LAKE COUNTY — What didn’t Luke Hoogendoorn do for the Middletown High School varsity baseball team in 2022?
Hoogendoorn, a senior, batted leadoff for the Mustangs, was part of the team’s starting pitching rotation, and was a fixture at second base when he’s wasn’t towing the rubber during the 2022 high school baseball season, one that saw Middletown come within a breath of earning some share of the North Central League I championship
Hoogendoorn, who graduated from Middletown a week ago and is headed to Boise State University in Idaho to continue his academic and possibly athletic pursuits, is the most valuable player on the 2022 edition of the All-County baseball team as selected by the Lake County Record-Bee.
Coach of the year honors go to Tyler Holt, Middletown’s first-year head coach, for leading the Mustangs through a brutal preseason schedule, a league race that went down to the final days of the regular season, and a berth in the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs.
Joining Hoogendoorn and Holt on the All-County squad are 12 other players who distinguished themselves during the recently completed season.
First team
While Hoogendoorn certainly was a major catalyst for the Mustangs during a 13-12 campaign (12-2 in league), he had plenty of help from teammates, including All-County selections Cole Ketchum, a senior catcher, Noah Williams, a senior outfielder, Dax Green, a senior pitcher/outfielder, and Zach Dubois, a senior outfielder.
Middletown came within a St. Helena sweep of Fort Bragg in a regular-season-ending doubleheader at Fort Bragg of winning some share of the league title. St. Helena finished 13-1, its only loss coming at the hands of the Mustangs in their first league meeting April 14 at Middletown by a 7-6 final score. With a chance to clinch the outright league championship on May 10 at St. Helena, the Mustangs couldn’t hold a late lead as the Saints went on to win 4-3 in eight innings.
Kelseyville, 8-6 in the NCL I standings, and Clear Lake, 5-9 in NCL I action, each landed three players on the All-County team. For Kelseyville, freshman outfielder Tyler Bryant and fellow freshman Brock Barrick, a pitcher/infielder, were honored along with junior catcher Joey Gentle. Clear Lake’s trio of honorees are senior pitcher/shortstop Ethan Maize, senior catcher Drake Smart, and sophomore infielder Cody Hayes.
Upper Lake, the county’s lone NCL II team, is represented by a pair of sophomores, catcher Will Henry and outfielder Brody Petrie.
Coach of the year
Holt probably wasn’t thinking about coach of the year honors back in early March when the Mustangs, playing one powerful non-league opponent after another to open the season, started 0-4 and 1-6 against the likes of Justin-Siena (23-7), Colusa (33-1), St. Bernard’s (27-4) and Arcata (23-4). The team was 4-8 before it turned red-hot in league play, winning nine out of 10 during one stretch, to move the .500 mark to stay.
Middletown went 7-0 in league play at home, its only two losses coming on the road against St. Helena and Kelseyville.
A former Middletown baseball standout, Holt is the third different Middletown head coach in five seasons to win coach of the year honors, joining Jeff Mielke (2018) and Jon Hoogendoorn (2021). Likewise Luke Hoogendoorn is the third most valuable player from Middletown during that same span, joining Isaiah Moore (2018) and Will Aden (2021).
Coming up
The Record-Bee’s All-County softball team will be featured in Saturday’s print edition.
