LAKEPORT — Clear Lake snapped a 5-5 tie with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and then pulled away with a five-run sixth Thursday afternoon to beat the Middletown Mustangs 12-6 in the North Central League I and regular-season finale for both of these varsity baseball teams at Lakeport.
While Middletown finishes its season at 4-9-1 in league and 4-16-1 overall, the Cardinals (6-8, 8-10) hope to play on next week when the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs open. Clear Lake went 5-3 against Division 5 opponents this season, making the team postseason eligible, and the Cardinals have applied for an at-large berth. They’ll find out Sunday if they’s made it.
“I think we deserve it,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said. “With all this team has been through … it has been a long year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, I’m hoping.”
Clear Lake veteran head coach Ed Pepper died in mid-March as the Cardinals were about to open play in the Fort Bragg Tournament and a mostly young Cardinals squad — just three seniors — had a lot to deal with it, according to Horne.
“These boys … it’s a great group. They stayed together, they believe in each other and they just kept fighting. I’m proud of them and I’m proud to be part of it.”
Clear Lake honored those three seniors — Greyson Wind, Michael Frease and Liam Orr — during the final home of the regular season.
Middletown enjoyed shortlived 2-0 and 5-4 leads while wrapping up the season. Head coach Tyler Holt said he knew the Mustangs would take their lumps this season because of all the young players on the roster, but he also expects next year’s team too be significantly improved.
“It was definitely a building year with all the young, young players,” Holt said. “Next year we’ll do better and be able to do more advanced stuff. There won’t be as much teaching at the beginning of the season as there was this year.”
Holt credited the Cardinals with taking advantage of the four walks issued by Middletown pitching as well as six hit batsmen.
“And they hit the ball pretty well, too,” Holt said of the Cardinals. “We were leaving the ball out over the plate too much. Other times we would get ahead in the count and hit someone.”
Jon Hawkins (2-for-3) and Jesse Young (2-for-4, RBI) combined for four of Middletown’s five hits. TJ Allred had the other.
Clear Lake statistics were not available.
The Cardinals clinched fourth place in the league standings with the win, finishing behind Kelseyville, Fort Bragg and St. Helena.
Game notes: A handful of Clear Lake’s baseball players also played prominent roles in the Cardinals reaching the sectional playoffs in football and basketball, among them Graden Greer and brothers Cody and Jesse Hayes. Orr and Frease also played football and basketball. “They’ve had a long year,” Horne said of his multi-sport players. “They played four extra games in football.”
