HEALDSBURG — Healdsburg scored 11 unanswered runs to erase a 4-0 deficit and beat the Lower Lake Trojans 11-4 in non-league varsity baseball action under the lights Saturday night at Recreation Park in Healdsburg.
The loss caps a tough week for the Trojans (5-8), who dropped league road games Tuesday to St. Helena and Friday to Kelseyville, two of the top teams in the North Central League I this season. Lower Lake head coach Mark Peterson said his squad is more than capable of bouncing back when the second half of league play opens Tuesday with yet another road game, this time in Lakeport against Clear Lake.
“In this game you have to have short-term memory,” Lower Lake head coach Mark Peterson said. “Those wins are coming. I’m proud of this group. I love these guys … they work so hard.”
Lower Lake started the night off well enough against Healdsburg freshman pitcher Vinny Loupy, plating three runs in the top of the first and another in the third to give their starting pitcher, Jordan John, a 4-0 lead to work with. The Greyhounds quickly erased that deficit as their bats warmed up considerably the second time through the batting order.
No. 9 batter Jeremiah Michener actually got things rolling in the bottom of the third for the Greyhounds with a solid single to left field, the first hit allowed by John, and the first of four straight hits by Healdsburg. Michener advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third on Wyatt Dugan’s single to left. After Dugan stole second base, Gavin Valls worked the count full before launching a double to deep center field to score both runners. Jack Domenichelli followed with a well-struck double of his own to left-center field to cut Lower Lake’s lead to 4-3. He later scored on a two-out wild pitch to tie the game.
Lower Lake had a golden opportunity to regain the lead in the top of the fourth as Dylan Sherman led off with a walk and moved up to second on an errant pickoff throw, but a baserunning mistake took the Trojans out of the inning as Cody Gasperoni popped up trying to sacrifice Sherman to third. As Sherman was moving with the pitch, he was easily doubled up.
Healdsburg turned four doubles plays in all as the Trojans’ aggressive baserunning cost them at times. They had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the first when Charles Jones was cut down trying to score on a popup that Healdsburg’s second baseman caught in shallow right field, his momentum carrying him away from the infield. However, he made a strong throw home for the out.
“That was a hell of a play by their guy,” Peterson said.
After scoring a run in the third to go up 4-0, Lower Lake had Jordan O’Keefe at second base with one out when Jones flied out down the right-field line. O’Keefe was breaking for third and Healdsburg’s right fielder doubled him up at second base.
The Trojans were threatening again in the sixth inning with runners at first and third following John’s one-out double deep down the right-field line and Jones’ infield single to deep shortstop. As Jones broke for second, Dylan Sherman struck out. Healdsburg’s catcher feigned a throw to second but instead fired the ball down to third, trapping Lower Lake’s pinch-runner off the bag. He was tagged out after a brief rundown.
Healdsburg followed up a four-run third with a four-run fourth, pounding out two more doubles in the inning.
“They ran into a couple of balls tonight,” Peterson said of the Greyhounds, who finished with nine hits, five of them doubles, and all of them hit extremely hard.
The big blow in the fourth was a two-out, two-run double by Valls (3-for-4) off reliever Jett Guralas, who struck out the first batter he faced and was one out from getting out of the inning when Valls smacked one all the way to the football scoreboard near the 400-foot mark sign in center field. If that didn’t hurt enough, an errant pickoff throw by Lower Lake’s catcher ended up down the left-field line, allowing two more runs to score in the inning.
“He was trying to back-pick the runner at third, but it was one of those plays where we (coaches) were all saying, ‘Eat it, eat it, eat it,’ but he threw the ball,” Peterson said. “It went from a manageable 6-4 game to 8-4 just like that.”
Healdsburg pushed across its final three runs in the fifth on a run-scoring passed ball, a Dugan RBI double down the right-field line, and a Valls RBI single, his third hit and fourth RBI of the game.
It was Lower Lake that was applying all the pressure at game’s start. Guralas led off the top of the first with a single to center field and Buddy Felder walked. O’Keefe laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt that Healdsburg’s catcher threw away at first base, the error bringing both Guralas and Felder while O’Keefe ended up at second base. He advanced to third on John’s groundout to shortstop and scored on a Jones bunt single that Loupy fielded and threw home to late to get the runner.
The Trojans’ run in the third was set up by Felder’s leadoff double to left field, O’Keefe’s single to right and John’s sacrifice fly to left.
Loupy blanked Lower Lake over the final four innings, facing the minimum three batters in the fourth thanks to a double play, retiring the Trojans in order in the fifth, and working out of a mini-jam in the sixth, again with the help of another double play.
The Trojans got their leadoff batter aboard in the seventh when Quintin Gutierrez reached on an infield single, but Loupy again stepped up to retire the next three batters, the final two on strikeouts — his fifth and sixth of the night. He allowed nine hits in all and also walked two.
John went 3 1 /3 innings for Lower Lake and was charged with the loss. He allowed six runs on six hits, struck out two and walked two. Guralas allowed five runs, only one of which was earned, in a 1 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking four. Edward Gutierrez closed with 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief, striking out one.
Jones went 2-for-3 for the Trojans, who matched Healdsburg’s nine hits with nine of their own.
While a tough night overall for the Trojans, Peterson picked out a handful of positives, beginning with O’Keefe (1-for-2), who opened the game at third base, later moved to shortstop and then back to third base.
“He definitely stepped up and tried to get us going,” Peterson said. “That kid has heart and passion.”
Peterson also praised John’s versatility. After leaving the mound, he played both first and third while also contribution a double and a sacrifice fly.
“And I thought Jett Guralas pitched very well, he just didn’t get the calls,” Peterson said. “He was really bringing it.”
