St. Helena rallies from behind late in win

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

The St. Helena Angels entered Thursday night’s game with their stakes in the playoff race in jeopardy. That proved to be more enough motivation.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Angels scored four runs to keep their playoff hopes very much alive as they defeated the Rohnert Park Dragons 6-3 at Golis Park in Rohnert Park.

An error, a bunt single and then an RBI bunt single led to the first two runs of the eighth, giving the Angels (6-7) the lead. John Ahlers followed with a two-RBI double, giving St. Helena all the insurance that was needed.

Josh McIntosh went the distance on the mound for, striking out 13 to earn the victory while allowing only two earned runs on five hits.

“It was just my day today, I was consistent and throwing strikes,” he said. “It was a solid team effort.  We had a couple good bunts. We normally like to hit the ball… but when it comes down to it, we got a win.”

Matt Kasch put the Dragons (5-6) on the board when he scored on an error in the first inning. St. Helena took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a pair of walks, a wild pitch and an error.

Rohnert Park tied it in the fifth on a single by Jake Halady that scored Eric Walker and then took the lead two innings later on another Halady single. But that was the last time the Dragons would cross the plate.

Justin Wade was the only Angel with a multi-hit game as he finished 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scores. Ahlers finished with three RBIs for the night.

Jarrod Dumont was given the loss for Rohnert Park but matched McIntosh with 13 strikeouts.

The win puts the Angels’ win column even with the Napa Knights for second place in the Napa Division, behind the Oakville Aces. The top two teams from each division advance to the playoffs, with the winner of the Napa division receiving an automatic berth to the championship series.