ST. HELENA >> A four-run seventh inning made Billy Shaul’s decision to stick with starter Jon Dougherty an easy one Friday afternoon as the Kelseyville Knights beat the St. Helena Saints 11-4 to wrap up a 14-0 North Central League I varsity baseball campaign at St. Helena.
The Knights (14-0 league, 17-5 overall) will take a 14-game winning streak into the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs next week as they set their sights on bigger game now that they’ve got the league pennant and an undefeated league season safely tucked away in their back pockets.
Next up on the to-do list?
“Maybe another win, two more wins, three more wins,” said Shaul, the Knights’ head coach, with an eye toward the Division 4 playoffs. “We just need to do what we do and play our game; throw strikes, play good defense.”
The Knights did all of the above Friday against the Saints, who were doing their best to hand Kelseyville a loss and spoil its perfect record.
“They threw their top two guys at us,” Shaul said. “It felt like playoff baseball. There was a lot of chirping going on back and forth between the players. I think that was a good way to end the (regular) season and go into the playoffs.”
And Shaul expects the Knights to go into the Division 4 playoffs as either a No. 4 or No. 5 seed, which means they would host a first-round game, most likely on Wednesday.
St. Helena made Kelseyville work for that 14th league win as the game was 5-4 in the Knights’ favor through four innings. Kelseyville gained a bit of breathing room with a two-run fifth as Luke Watkins delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single to make it 7-4.
It was still 7-4 going to the seventh inning and Shaul said he was considering going to his bullpen in the bottom half, but the Knights eased his worries by pushing across four runs in the top half, including a sacrifice fly by Alex Cabrera and a RBI single by Tyler Bryant.
Dougherty surrendered two runs in each of the second and third innings although Kelseyville never trailed in the game because of a three-run top of the second and a two-run third.
“Jon kind of settled in after the third,” Shaul said.
Dougherty ended up throwing a five-hitter with five strikeouts and one walk. He also hit a batter.
Zayne Barker went 3-for-4 to the lead the Knights. He was one of four Kelseyville players with multiple hits, joining Andrew Huggins (2-for-3, double, four RBIs), Brock Barrick (2-for-3) and Joey Gentle (2-for-5, RBI). Huggins knocked in four of the Knights’ first five runs with a two-run double to the right-center field gap in the second inning and a two-run single to left field in the third.
“We went 1-2-3 in the first and so did they,” Shaul said. “It looked like it was going to be a pitcher’s duel.”
Barker had two bunt singles as the Knights collected only one extra-base hit — Huggins’ double — among their 12 hits.
“We played great small ball,” Shaul said. “It was a really good, solid outing.”
Team/playoff notes: Going into the at-large and seeding meeting this weekend, Kelseyville is ranked No. 4 in the section in Division 4. The 11 top-ranked teams through Friday were St. Joseph Notre Dame of Alameda (17-4-1), Arcata (18-6), Fortuna (10-7-1), Kelseyville (17-5), Justin-Siena (12-9), McKinleyville (14-10), Del Norte (12-11-1), Piedmont (12-10), Branson School of Ross (12-11), Fort Bragg (13-6-1) and Healdsburg (14-10) … Kelseyville has a 4-3 record against those other top teams. The Knights swept Fort Bragg in league play, split non-league doubleheaders with Aracata and Fortuna, and lost 2-1 in non-league action to Healdsburg. The Knights also split a non-league doubleheader with Colusa (23-3-1), the No. 1-ranked Division 4 team in the Northern Section … The North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs are a two-week journey for the two teams good enough to reach the finals … NCL I coaches will meet next week to select the All-League team, which should feature plenty of Knights.
