Aden, Crudo homer in M’town win

Kelseyville drops 2-1 heartbreaker at Fort Bragg

Tyler Crudo homered in his third straight North Central League I game and Will Aden smashed his sixth homer of the season Friday afternoon as the Middletown Mustangs beat Willits 13-0 in varsity baseball action at Willits.

Crudo, who now has four homers on the year, hit a two-run shot to left field in the top of the first inning to give the Mustangs (3-1 league, 7-3 overall) a 2-0 lead. Aden followed with another blast to left field to make it 3-0.

The Mustangs spent the rest of the game adding to their lead while starting pitcher Justin Hollingsworth and reliever Luke Hoogendoorn combined on a three-hit shutout. Hollingsworth worked the first 3 1/3 innings, allowing two hits, striking out one and walking none while Hoogendoorn finished with 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball. He also struck out one and walked none.

Despite the lopsided final score, Middletown head coach Jon Hoogendoorn said it wasn’t the Mustangs’ best effort of the season.

“We were just trying too hard, it happens,” he said. “Everyone was trying to hit home runs. Willits has a short porch in left field and in right.”

The Mustangs banged out 15 hits and didn’t commit an error. Zach Dubois went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and scored three times, Tanner Pachie went 3-for-3 with three runs, and Aden went 3-for-4 with a RBI, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

Middletown is on the road Saturday to play Credo at 6 p.m. in Rohnert Park. The Mustangs jump right back into their league schedule Monday at home against Kelseyville at 4 p.m.

In other baseball action Friday:

Fort Bragg 2, Kelseyville 1

At Fort Bragg, after the Kelseyville Knights could score only once during what began as a promising top of the sixth inning, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the NCL I victory and leave them as the only undefeated team in the league (3-0).

“You hope it’s one of those character-building games,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said. “We played a great game, we did a lot of the small stuff right, but we keep running into the other team’s ace.”

Fort Bragg pitcher Ricky Sanchez tossed a three-hitter while striking out eight and walking one. Losing pitcher Jeremy Brown only allowed one hit, a oneout double in the second inning, but ended up taking the loss. He struck out six and walked three.

Fort Bragg’s game-winning rally began with a leadoff walk followed by a sacrifice bunt on which the batter made it safely to first base. After both runners advanced a base, the Timberwolves won the game on a squeeze bunt. As the runner from third scored on the bunt and as Kelseyville’s defense was busy throwing him out at first base, the Fort Bragg trail runner, who never broke stride, rounded third and raced for the plate, beating the throw home to win the game.

“We were slow to react,” Shaul said.

Kelseyville had a chance to score two or three times in the top of the sixth but had to settle for just the one run, which came back to haunt them.