LOWER LAKE — The potential tying run was thrown out at the plate in a bottom of the seventh filled with frustation for the Lower Lake Trojans in their 4-3 North Central League I varsity baseball loss to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves on Friday afternoon in Lower Lake.
Lower Lake (1-4 league, 4-5 overall) trailed 4-2 going to the bottom of the seventh. Dylan Sherman singled with one out and pinch-hitter AJ Myer singled him over to second base. Edward Gutierrez followed with a hit-and-run grounder that the Fort Bragg third baseman fielded near the bag. Instead of stepping on the base for the easy force, he made the long throw to first base and threw the ball away for an error, Sherman scoring on the play and Myer going around to third base. Pinch-runner Luke Campbell replaced Gutierrez at first.
A pitched ball that bounded to the backstop saw Myers break for the plate. As the catcher retrieved the ball and threw to the plate where the pitcher was covering, a close play went Fort Bragg’s way as Myers was called out.
“The umpires umped a magnificent game up to that play,” Lower Lake coach Mark Peterson said. “God he (home plate umpire) must have waited seven seconds before finally making a call. I don’t think the Fort Bragg fans could believe the call either.”
Campbell smartly went around to third base on the play at the plate, but he couldn’t advance as the next batter struck out to end the game.
Hits proved hard to come by for the Trojans. Jett Guralas led off the Lower Lake first with a triple and eventually scored on an error. The Trojans added a second run on a dropped strike three as batter Charles Jones beat the throw to first base, Jordan O’Keefe scoring to give Lower Lake a 2-0 lead.
Lower Lake didn’t get another hit until Steel Kuykendall singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but he was promptly picked off first.
“We spent too much time looking at beautiful pitches,” Peterson said of the 11 Lower Lake batters who went down on strikes.
Fort Bragg tied the game with two runs in the third against Gutierrez, who pitched the first six innings. The Timberwolves pushed ahead to stay with a run in the fourth and went up 4-2 with a run in the sixth.
Gutierrez allowed all seven of Fort Bragg’s hits. Only two of the four runs charged to him were earned. He struck out two and walked two. Guralas pitched the seventh, striking out one and walking one.
“The kids are playing well, I can’t get mad at them for that,” Peterson said. “Sometimes you just don’t hit the ball.”
Though the Trojans lost their straight, Peterson said his players remain upbeat and enthusiastic about the team and their season.
“The attitudes are great and we have kids still coming out for the team, they want to be a part of this,” Peterson said. “We had two days of great batting practice this week. They didn’t want to leave.”
Lower Lake hits the road Saturday to play Mt. Diablo in Concord at 1 p.m. The Trojans play three more times next week — league games Tuesday at St. Helena and Friday at Kelseyville, and a non-league game Saturday under the lights at Recreation Park in Healdsburg.
