Petaluma offense goes big

For photos from Friday night’s game click here. (Photos by Emily Farmer)

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

On a night when everything seemed to go wrong for the Yountville Robins, everything seemed to go right for the Petaluma Piratas.

Petaluma struck early, and struck often as the Piratas continued their successful season atop the Sonoma South Division with a 16-2 win over the Robins at Golis Park on Friday night.

“The win was important for us because we were able to see some guys get some hits (off the bench),” said center fielder Nate Durkin. “We got guys in the game who haven’t been playing a whole lot.”

Indeed the Piratas (11-3) had help from the entirety of their lineup with two-hit games from Sammy Bruno, Durkin, Tuck Nommsen, Ryan Check, Dave Hunt, Dan Mulderick and Aaron Wilgus.

Wilgus pitched four solid innings, allowing one earned run, on one hit with eight strikeouts. Michael Miller earned the win, shutting down Yountville (1-10) through the first five innings, allowing only two hits and striking out eight Robins.

Most of the damage came in the first two innings. Petaluma scored five runs in the first inning and eight more in the second to take a 13-0 lead after two innings.

Ziggy Gutierrez was one of the few bright spots for the Robins. Gutierrez made several nice plays throughout the game, including a pair of sliding, run-saving catches in the fourth.

Angels win big over Yountville

Top: St. Helena’s Justin Wade and Yountville’s Nik Gutierrez collide on a stolen base by Wade in the first inning. Bottom: Steve O’ Dell fields a bouncing grounder in the second inning.

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

ROHNERT PARK—Yountville’s Billy Hamilton may have received a loss on Friday night. But not for lack of effort.

Hamilton threw 167 pitches in a complete game start, but was unable to quiet a hot St. Helena offense. St.Helena came up big at the plate as they handily defeated the Yountville Robins with a 12-3 victory at Golis Park.

The Angels (6-7) scored often early. They reached the board first off of RBI singles by Josh McIntosh and Dave Bryant.

St.Helena went on to score a run in the second, three in the third and three more in the fourth. John Hays, Dave Bryant, John Ahlers, Ted Kearns and Kory Langwell all had two hit games in the win while Justin Wade contributed with three runs.

Josh McIntosh pitched six innings to earn the win, allowing one earned run and striking out nine.

Yountville (1-10) struggled both at the plate and in the field. The Robins had just four hits and committed six errors.

Angels edge Robins, 5-2

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

St. Helena entered the ninth inning with a comfortable 5-0 lead over Yountville, hoping to ease their way to their first victory on the season. But the Robins refused to go away.

Yountville scored twice in their final at bats but it was too little to late as the Angels (1-1) came up with the 5-2 victory at St. Helena High School on June 23.

Mike Cassady earned the win, pitching five shutout innings, striking out eight and walking one. Josh McIntosh held off Yountville (0-2) in the final four innings, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out five.

McIntosh also provided some timely hitting, providing all the offense the Angels would need with a three run homer in the second inning.

“Our pitching (was huge),” said coach Steve O’Dell. “Cassady looked great through five and McIntosh was going to be just a pitcher, but he hit a three-run bomb and that gave us all the runs we needed.”

The win was a much-needed boost for the Angels, who ended up on the losing end of a 14-2 slugfest against Napa a week before.

Yountville remained close throughout the game, with some exceptional defense, including a run-saving play by shortstop Michael Gastelum in the fourth inning. With two outs and runners on second and third, Gastelum ranged far to his left on a ball hit up the middle by the Angels’ Steve O’Dell, snagged it, spun around and through to first just in time for the out.

Nevertheless, the Robins could not crack St. Helena’s pitching until it was too late. In coach O’Dell’s mind, the game marked a notable improvement in the Angels’ play.

“We looked a lot better than last week,” he said.