MIDDLETOWN — Following on the heels of teammate Troy Taber’s no-hitter on Friday in a 10-0 road win over Lower Lake, Middletown High School’s Jon Hawkins pitched a three-hit shutout Wednesday in the Mustangs’ 3-0 North Central League I varsity baseball victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals at Wes Martin Field.
The back-to-back shutout wins give Middletown a 4-6 league record and 4-11 overall mark.
“He stayed pretty consistent (with his pitch count) throughout the game,” Middletown head coach Tyler Holt said of Hawkins, who averaged just under 15 pitches an inning. “His goal was 14 pitches an inning, so he just missed that.”
Hawkins struck out seven, walked five and hit one while throwing 103 pitches overall (110 is the maximum before a pitcher must leave the game). The freshman also cooled off one of the hottest hitters in the league in his pitching counterpart, Clear Lake junior Hank Ollenberger, who had gone 8-for-8 in his last three league games as the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter. Ollenberger went 0-for-2 but did walk twice, the last time with two outs in the seventh inning. The game ended two pitches later when Hawkins got the Cardinals’ next best hitter, freshman Jesse Hayes, to pop out to third base.
“Jesse is second behind Hank in hitting for us,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said. “Hank did a good job for us today on the mound. While he didn’t get a hit he still got on base half the time.”
Like Hawkins, Ollenberger pitched a complete-game three-hitter, striking out nine and walking three. Only one of the three runs he allowed was earned.
Middletown scored a run in the bottom of the first and two in the fifth, and senior Hunter Hartzog was right there in the middle of both innings for the Mustangs. Hartzog doubled home teammate TJ Allred in the first after Allred drew a walk, and he singled home Middletown’s first run in the fifth inning. Another run scored on pinch-hitter Jay-J Gerst’s grounder to first base.
Hawkins walked the first two batters he faced in the top of the sixth and both runners advanced on a wild pitch only to be stranded there. Hawkins retired each of Clear Lake’s next three hitters — on a flyball to center field that wasn’t deep enough to score the runner from third, on a popup to second base, and on a strikeout that ended the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Hawkins struck out each of the Cardinals’ first two batters before walking Ollenberger and getting Hayes on a popup to end the game.
Besides Hartzog’s two hits, Allred had the only other Middletown hit. For Clear Lake, Hayes, Greyson Wind and Graden Greer had Clear Lake’s hits.
The defensive play of the game occurred in the top of the first inning when Middletown first baseman Cisco Howland did the splits to dig out a throw from his right fielder and double up a Clear Lake runner who couldn’t get back to the bag in time on the flyball out.
“Our defense today was great,” Holt said.
“We just made some young mistakes and they capitalized on all our mistakes,” Horne said of the Mustangs.
Clear Lake is home Friday to play Fort Bragg while Middletown hosts Cloverdale. The Mustangs are also home Saturday to play McKinleyville in a non-league doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m.
