LAKEPORT — Kelseyville High School varsity baseball coach Billy Shaul didn’t waste any time going to his bullpen Friday afternoon as the North Central League I-leading Knights spotted the Clear Lake Cardinals an early 3-0 lead at Lakeport.
After giving up three runs and five hits to the Cardinals (2-6, 4-8) in the bottom of the first inning, Kelseyville starting pitcher Jon Dougherty allowed back-to-back singles to start the Clear Lake second, and his day was done.
“Jon just didn’t have it today,” Shaul said. “He doesn’t throw with a lot of velocity and his breaking pitch wasn’t biting.”
Dougherty allowed seven of Clear Lake’s 10 hits in one-plus innings.
“They barreled up against him,” Shaul said of the solid contact Clear Lake’s batters were making against Dougherty.
Shaul brought in sophomore reliever Brock Barrick, who ended up working the final six innings for the victory.
“Brock is a harder thrower but I wouldn’t say it was one of his better games of the season,” Shaul said. “That’s the most pitches (102) he’s thrown in a game this year. He pitched well enough.”
Barrick allowed just three hits and two unearned runs while striking out six and walking three.
Kelseyville’s bats took care of the rest, pounding out 14 hits and making the most of the handful of walks issued by Clear Lake pitching.
The Knights scored their first run in the top of the second and then tied the game on Barrick’s two-out, two-run double in the third. They pushed ahead to stay with two more runs in the fourth, the go-ahead run scoring on a Luke Watkins RBI single. Brother Kyle Watkins singled home the second run of the inning to make it 5-3.
Kelseyville then pulled away with four-run fifth and four-run sixth innings.
“When you give them free runners (on walks), they almost always take advantage,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said. “They don’t strike out much. They hit the ball. They have a good team approach.”
And the Knights hit it up and down their lineup. Seven different players had at least one hit and seven players had at least one RBI. Kyle Watkins went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Barrick went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Joey Gentle went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Luke Watkins added two hits and a RBI.
Shaul said the Knights also made productive outs, including a pair of sacrifice flyballs.
“We just keep the pressure on people, keep those at-bats going,” Shaul said. “We also used our speed well.”
Hank Ollenberger led the Cardinals, going 3-for-3 with a double and two stolen bases. Johnny Gonzales and Zane McCauley each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Freshman Jesse Hayes added a triple and a RBI.
“They did a good job hitting the ball early in the count against Jon,” Shaul said of the Cardinals.
Ollenberger also had an impressive eight-pitch at-bat in the fifth, igniting a two-run inning by the Cardinals with a double down the right-field line.
Barrick threw a total of 60 pitches between the fifth and sixth innings alone. Greyson Wind took the loss for the Cardinals.
Kelseyville can put an absolute stranglehold on the league race Tuesday with a win at home against Fort Bragg (6-1) at 4 p.m. The Knights beat the Timberwolves 9-2 on March 31 in Fort Bragg. Clear Lake is home Tuesday to face Cloverdale (3-6).
In other NCL I action Friday:
Cloverdale 12, Lower Lake 5
At Lower Lake, so much for that homefield advantage. The Lower Lake Trojans remain winless on on their own diamond after falling to the Cloverdale Eagles.
“The curse of playing at our own school,” Lower Lake head coach Mark Peterson said. “We just can’t win at home.
Lower Lake (2-6, 6-9) has won six times on the road this season, most recently a 6-3 victory Tuesday against Clear Lake in Lakeport. The Trojans beat Cloverdale the first time the two teams met back on March 27 in Cloverdale.
“It’s very weird,” Peterson said. “We tried to change that feeling today, but Cloverdale scored three runs in the top of the first.”
Cloverdale (3-6) plated at least two runs in each of the first five innings to open up a 12-4 lead. Lower Lake stayed close early, scoring a run in the bottom of the first, two more in the second and another in the third to trail 7-4. But the Eagles kept turning Lower Lake errors (eight of them on the day) into runs.
“Our pitchers honestly pitched well,” Peterson said. “They were getting popups and getting them (Eagles) to put the ball in play, but those throwing errors really hurt. It can get to a pitcher when that keeps happening.”
Jordan John worked the first three innings and allowed seven runs, but only three earned. Jordan O’Keefe relieved and pitched the next three innings, allowing five runs, two of them earned. Anthony Myer worked a scoreless seventh.
The final run of the game, scored by Lower Lake in the bottom of the sixth, definitely was something you don’t see every day. Quintin Gutierrez walked to reach base and then stole second, third and home.
Lower Lake finished with five hits, one each by John (1-for-3, RBI), Edward Gutierrez (1-for-3, RBI), Dylan Sherman (1-for-4, double), Steel Kuykendall (1-for-2) and Jett Guralas ( 1-fo-4, three stolen bases).
“Their attitudes remain good,” Peterson said of his players.
The Trojans hit the road Tuesday to play Willits at 4 p.m.
Fort Bragg 3, Middletown 2
At Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg (6-1) scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game and another run in the seventh for the walk-off victory over the Middletown Mustangs (2-5, 2-10).
Middletown took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth on TJ Allred’s RBI single. Both teams scored a run in the third inning, the Mustangs’ scoring on Jacob Urbina’s sacrifice fly.
Middletown starting pitcher Troy Taber threw one pitch, a strike, in the bottom of the seventh inning before being forced from the game because he had reached the maximum pitch count (110). Allred relieved and completed the at-bat, getting a flyout to center field. Allred walked the next batter but catcher Hunter Hartzog picked him off to clear the bases.
Just one out away from forcing extra innings, Allred gave up a single. A wild pitch advanced the runner and Middletown passed on Fort Bragg’s cleanup hitter, walking him intentionally. Another walk loaded the bases. Allred worked the count full on the next batter before also walking him to force in the winning run.
The two teams played to a 10-10 tie after eight innings March 28 in Middletown before running out of daylight. That game may be completed next month in Middletown if it is necessary in regard to the league title picture. Fort Bragg, just one down in the loss column to undefeated Kelseyville, plays at Kelseyville on Tuesday.
“They don’t want to come down here if the game means nothing,” Middletown head coach Tyler Holt said of completing the tie game from March 28. “But we also have some rainouts to reschedule, so we’ll see.”
May 12-13 are possible makeup dates.
Friday’s game was delayed four times, according to Holt.
“It was a weird game,” he said.
Three of those delays were umpire related as the plate umpire took a hard shot off his mask, which created the first delay as he needed some time to recover. The second delay occurred when the plate umpire had to replace his broken mask because of the hard shot he took. Finally, the plate umpire left the game a short time later with a possible concussion.
Holt said another umpire was watching the game from the stands and had to change into his uniform. Meanwhile the base umpire had to retrieve his plate gear to replace the injured umpire.
A fourth delay involved Middletown player Jon Hawkins, who split open a knuckle with his own cleat. He required some medical attention but remained in the game, according to Holt.
“He was in a lot of pain,” Holt said.
Adding to the general weirdness of the day was a strange bottom of the first, according to Holt. Taber fell behind each of the three batters he faced 3-0 before running the count full and retiring all three.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before,” Holt said.
Allred (2-for-3) had two of the Mustangs’ seven hits.
Middletown is home Tuesday to play St. Helena at 4 p.m.
