LAKEPORT — Playing their final home game of the season, the Clear Lake Cardinals started all four of their seniors in a 14-3 five-inning victory over the Lower Lake Trojans in North Central League I varsity baseball action Tuesday afternoon at Lakeport.
While three of those seniors, Drake Smart, Ethan Maize and Maddox Albaum, have been playing all season for the Cardinals (4-8 league, 7-11 overall), Ian Hodder had to wait a long time to get that first start, and he made the most of it by going 1-for-2 with a walk. Prior to Tuesday, he had just one official at-bat and had appeared in only two games.
“He had to wait a long time to get back in there,” Clear Lake head coach Ed Pepper said. “Now he’s hitting .333 for the season. He played the first three innings and he did a good job. I was really happy for him.”
Maize, who went the distance on the mound for the Cardinals, gave up two unearned runs in the top of the first before getting the Cardinals back even with a two-run triple down the right-field line in the bottom half of the inning.
Clear Lake pushed ahead to stay with a three-run third inning and pulled away with a five-run fourth. Lower Lake got its final run in the top of the fifth to make it 10-3, but the Cardinals scored four times in the bottom half, a two-run single by Ralphy Blancas capping the rally and bringing an early end to the game as the 10-run rule came into play.
Besides their eight hits, the Cardinals were the beneficiaries of 13 walks issued by Lower Lake pitching. Liam Orr drew three of those walks and had three RBIs while Cody Hayes walked twice and drove in two runs. Jace Beard (1-for-2) also had a pair of RBIs. Smart (2-for-4) was the only Clear Lake hitter with more than one hit.
“We did what we needed to do and put the bat on the ball with runners in scoring position, especially in the fifth inning,” Pepper said. “We did everything right in that inning.”
Lower Lake fell to 1-10 in league and 2-11 overall. The Trojans did not report their game statistics to the Record-Bee.
Clear Lake closes out its season with games on the road Friday at Cloverdale and next Tuesday at Fort Bragg.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Credo 10, Upper Lake 2
At Rohnert Park, Credo beat Upper Lake in NCL II action, dropping Upper Lake to 4-3 in the league standings and 7-5 overall.
No other game details were available.
