Baseball Recap: Upper Lake Takes a Loss

Upper Lake extended their losing streak to 14 on Friday, dropping their season record down to 3-16 in the process. They came up short against the Middletown Mustangs, falling 14-8. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Mustangs this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 10-5 back in April.

As for Middletown, they moved to 5-14-1 with that win, which also ended their six-game losing streak. They not only won on Friday, but they posted their biggest win since April 4th (when they won 8-1).

For Middletown's part, Cody Perez and Hayden Xavier made a splash no matter where they played. On the mound, Perez tossed four innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off six hits. Meanwhile, Xavier tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. Perez is becoming a predictor of Middletown's success: when he allows at most two earned runs the team is 3-1 (and 2-13-1 when he doesn't). At the plate, Perez went 4-for-5 with three runs, two doubles, and one stolen base, while Xavier went 3-for-4 with one run. Those four hits gave Perez a new career-high.

In other batting news, Jon Hawkins and John Finney did most of the damage at the plate: Hawkins got on base in five of his six plate appearances with two stolen bases, three runs, and three RBI, while Finney went 3-for-5 with two stolen bases, three RBI, and two runs. That's the most stolen bases Finney has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Cody De Jong, who went 1-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Upper Lake and Middletown could both be facing uphill battles in their next games considering their disadvantage in the MaxPreps California Rankings. The Cougars (ranked 1098th) will meet St. Helena (ranked 479th) at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Middletown will take on Clear Lake at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday with a big rank disadvantage (975 vs. 445).