Healdsburgh wins three in a row

Cloverdale second baseman Kwame Clark shows the umpire the ball as the runner is called safe. Photo by Emily Farmer

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

Three games ago the Healdsburgh Owls were a team struggling to get their feet moving. Winless, and struggling defensively and offensively, each game was a slow improvement.

But Healdsburgh has won its last three games and appears to have emerged as the team it was supposed to be long ago. The Owls minimized the defensive mistakes and certainly had no offensive problems as they defeated the Cloverdale Bandits 12-4.

“It’s pretty sweet, starting out 0-9 and not thinking we were ever going to win a game to winning (three in a row),” manager Joe Stewart said. “Losing becomes contagious, but winning is too. It’s been great I think we’ve been pretty well as a team, our hitting and defense has definitely improved. I think (this game) was our best game so far and the score reflected it.”

The Owls (3-9) took an early lead when they scored four times in the second inning off four hits and an error from the Bandits.

Cloverdale (3-7) answered with two runs in the third inning on an RBI double by Albert Higgs to score Kwame Clark and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tony Corkhill. But Healdsburgh broke it wide open in the bottom half of the inning, scoring eight runs on seven hits to take a 12-2 lead.

Ryan Surina was a big part of the win yet again, throwing seven innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits, striking out four to earn the win. Surina kept the Bandits off balance throughout the night with a big curveball that Cloverdale struggled to hit cleanly.

Manny Delao finished 4-for-6 with a pair of runs scored and two RBIs, Tyler Ketteman was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs and Jared Lunardi, Surina, Matt Archer, Rob Tosti and Beau Govig all had two hits.

Both Rigo Jacinto and Kwame Clark compiled two-hit games and scored a run for the Bandits.