LAKEPORT — Middletown High School starting pitcher Dax Green worked into the seventh inning of the Mustangs’ 10-6 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals in North Central League I varsity baseball action Tuesday afternoon in Lakeport.
Green and the Mustangs (9-1 league, 10-9 overall) took a seemingly comfortable 10-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, that after scoring three insurance runs in the top half, before the Cardinals rallied for five runs against the left-hander.
“Dax did a real nice job,” Clear Lake head coach Ed Pepper said. “He got a little tired in the seventh and we were able to take advantage.”
“He pitched fantastic,” Middletown head coach Tyler Holt said of the senior. “He kept them (Clear Lake’s hitters) off balance when he needed to. Our defense didn’t help him out in the seventh. He definitely did his job.”
Luke Hoogendoorn relieved Green and struck out the only batter he faced to strand two Clear Lake batters on base as the game ended.
The Mustangs had a 7-0 lead after four innings as they moved above the .500 mark overall for the first time this season. They are 3-0 in the second half of league play with four games remaining.
“We just need to keep this up,” Holt said.
The rally in the seventh was a nice way to close the game, according to Pepper, but a case of too little, too late for the Cardinals (3-7, 6-10).
“The guys got it together, just a little late,” he said. “We just didn’t produce when we needed to earlier in the game. It was another tough loss, but we’ll just keep grinding.”
Hoogendoorn went 5-for-5 with a double and a RBI for Middletown and Cole Ketchum went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.
“He was kind of spreading it all around,” Holt said of Hoogendoorn’s five hits. “He was on it.”
Bryan Riel went 1-for-3 with a double and a RBI for the Mustangs, who visit Willits on Friday.
Drake Smart went 2-for-2 with two walks for Clear Lake while losing pitcher Maddox Albaum, Ethan Maize, Cody Hayes and Jacob Horne each had one hit and one RBI.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 3, Willits 0
At Kelseyville, winning pitcher Brock Barrick scattered three hits and struck out 10 as the Kelseyville Knights shut out the Willits Wolverines.
Barrick, only a freshman, had to wiggle his way out of a handful of jams against the Wolverines, including in the top of the fourth when the first two Wolverines reached on singles before Barrick struck out the side. He ended up throwing 91 pitches.
“Which isn’t that many,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said. “That’s a lot of strikeouts for him.”
Kelseyville (7-3, 9-10) broke a scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fourth on Reme Strong’s one-out RBI single. The Knights nursed that 1-0 lead into the sixth when they added their final two runs. The first scored on a Willits error, the other on a Joey Gentle RBI single.
While the Knights received strong pitching from Barrick and backed him with steady play in the field (only one error), Kelseyville failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities in each of the first three innings.
“We left the bases loaded in the first,” Shaul said.
Kelseyville also had a runner at second with no outs in the second inning and the bases loaded with one out in the third only to come away empty each time.
“It seems like our bats are hot, cold, hot, cold,” Shaul said. “I’m hoping they’re hot in our next game (Friday at Fort Bragg).”
Fort Bragg took it to the Knights on April 5 in Kelseyville, winning 11-0 in six innings.
With an eye toward the league race, Shaul said, “We need to take care of ourselves the rest of the way and hopefully someone helps us out.”
Kelseyville trails both Middletown (9-1) and St. Helena (7-1) in the league standings.
Tyler Bryant (2-for-3, RBI) was the only Knights player with more than one hit against Willits.
Upper Lake def. Calistoga (forfeit)
At Upper Lake, Upper Lake was scheduled to host the Calistoga Wildcats in NCL II action on Wednesday, so you can imagine the Cougars’ surprise when Calistoga showed up at Upper Lake’s field Tuesday, 24 hours early, ready to play.
Instead, the two teams held a four-inning scrimmage because there were no umpires available on such short notice.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Upper Lake head coach Brian Milhaupt said of the scheduling snafu. “We all tried to make the best of a bad situation.”
While Upper Lake was willing to travel to Calistoga on Wednesday to make things right, the Calistoga coach said his team would instead forfeit the game, according to Milhaupt.
Upper Lake improves to 4-1 in league and 7-3 overall.
The Cougars are home Friday to play Sonoma Academy, the only team they’ve lost to in league play so far.
“It’s a big game for us,” Milhaupt said. “We’re in the hunt (for the league title).”
