KELSEYVILLE >> That’s one down.
Kelseyville High School’s baseball team took the first step toward a North Coast Section Division 4 championship with a 3-1 victory over St. Patrick-St. Vincent of Vallejo on a warm Wednesday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field in Kelseyville.
The Knights (18-5) won their 15th straight game behind a complete-game four-hitter from sophomore pitcher Brock Barrick. They now advance to the quarterfinals Saturday against Justin-Siena of Napa. First pitch is 1 p.m. at Lloyd Larson Field.
Undefeated in the North Central League I this season at 14-0, the No. 4-seeded Knights need three more wins to add a second pennant to their collection this season. While not one to look ahead, Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul did make one prediction; it’s only going to get tougher from here.
“I think we’re ready for that,” Shaul said. “We haven’t been in a lot of close games this season so it felt good to see us handle that pressure. That was a well-coached team we faced and they knew how to play the game.”
No. 5 seed Justin-Siena (13-9) dispatched Berean Christian of Walnut Creek 10-5 in another first-round game Wednesday. Still, it’s really not about seedings or records at this point, according to Shaul.
“When you get to the playoffs you can’t look at records or rankings,” Shaul said. “You go game by game, team by team. That other stuff doesn’t matter.”
Until Wednesday, Kelseyville hadn’t won a playoff game since 2017 when Logan Barrick went 6 2/3 innings in a 5-4 win over Del Norte in the Division 4 quarterifnals. Six years later his younger brother Brock is among those carrying the Knights’ banner.
Brock Barrick threw 99 pitches – the limit for high school pitchers is 110 – while going the distance against the Bruins. Though he struggled with his control at times and worked deep into a number of counts, not all of that was on his shoulders, according to Shaul.
“Credit to them (Bruins) for fighting off a lot of good pitches,” Shaul said. “They were a smart team, they didn’t go up there swinging at everything. They made Brock work, but Brock trusted himself and trusted his defense.”
And Kelseyville’s defense didn’t make an error. St. Patrick-St. Vincent pitcher Davis Kennedy also threw a complete game, but two of the three errors committed by his teammates – on back-to-back plays to open the bottom of the third inning – figured prominently in the game’s outcome as did a bit of indecision by Kennedy right after those two errors.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent struck for a run in the top of the third to go up 1-0. Barrick walked the Bruins’ Nos. 8-9 batters to start things off, then came right back to strike out Bo Smith, who was caught looking at strike three, and Justin Eyeralde on a swinging strike three. Nearly out of the jam, Barrick surrendered a two-out RBI single into right field by Wyatt Smith (2-for-3, double, RBI), but retired cleanup hitter Sergio Urias on a comebacker to strand runners at second and third.
Kelseyville came right back in the bottom half to score all three of its runs, and it was one weird rally.
Andrew Huggins led off and hit a hard grounder that the St. Patrick-St. Vincent third baseman tried to backhand only to watch the ball tick off his glove for an error. Kyle Watkins dropped down the expected sacrifice bunt but ended up safe a first when the Bruins’ first baseman, charging in to field the ball, swiped at it and knocked it toward home plate, Huggins advancing to second.
Kelseyville leadoff hitter Joey Gentle (2-for-3) came right back with another hard bunt that Kennedy fielded in a hurry. He had a play at third base for the force but hesitated and didn’t make a throw, and by the time Kennedy spun around toward first, he just held the ball because Gentle was already at the bag.
Reme Strong was standing at the plate when Kennedy was called for a bases-loaded balk, Huggins scoring to tie the game and his teammates advancing a base. After Strong struck out, the Knights put on the suicide squeeze, Watkins charging hard down the line as Tyler Bryant squared around at the plate. Bryant put down a beautiful bunt that he beat out for a single to give Kelseyville a 2-1 lead as Gentle moved over to third base.
Kelseyville cleanup hitter Jon Dougherty took a ball before Kennedy was called for a second run-scoring balk that gave the Knights a 3-1 lead.
“We scored three runs without hitting the ball out of the infield,” Shaul said.
Barrick faced just one batter over the minimum the final four innings. He allowed a one-out walk in the fourth but the runner never advanced past second base.
In the fifth, Barrick gave up his fourth and final hit of the game, a one-out single to Bo Smith, but he picked Smith off moments later.
Barrick retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh. He had thrown 83 pitches going into his final inning and worked the count full to the first two batters he faced before retiring them both. He struck out pinch-hitter Ray Bermudez to end the game with pitches Nos. 96-99.
Game notes: Kennedy also picked off a runner and nearly a second. He struck out two and walked one … Dougherty is likely to make the start for Kelseyville on Saturday against Justin-Siena. “He’s been our big-game pitcher all year,” Shaul said. … Kelseyville’s Zayne Barker certainly helped run up Kennedy’s pitch count with a nine-pitch at-bat in the bottom of the second. Barker ended up walking but was picked off first base … After throwing 30 pitches in the top of the third, Barrick needed only 18 in the fourth, eight in the fifth, 10 in the sixth, and 17 in the seventh … Logan Barrick, who recently graduated from Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, was on hand Wednesday to watch his brother pitch. He’ll soon be teaching at his alma mater and coaching there … Three Lake County teams will be in action Saturday. Besides Kelseyville, the Clear Lake softball teams is home for a 1 p.m. Division 5 quarterfinal-round game against Berean Christian while the Upper Lake softball team travels to St. Helena for a 7 p.m. quarterfinal-round game, also in Division V, against the No. 1-seeded Saints. A fourth county playoff team, the Clear Lake baseball squad, is on the road Friday to play The Bay School at 5 p.m. in a Division V quarterfinal at San Francisco. Quarterfinal-round winners in both divisions advance to the semifinals either Tuesday or Wednesday at the home site of the highest surviving seeds. The championship games are May 26-27. The NorCal playoffs follow for those good enough to make it that far.
