It’s shaping up as an exciting spring for west county high school baseball teams, with both El Molino and Analy notching big wins in Sonoma County League action.
The Lions (8-3, 3-0) are off to their best start in years this month, scoring successive wins over St. Helena (10-0), Piner (5-1) and Sonoma Valley (8-5) to vault into first place.
Weather permitting, El Mo will hit the road for a pair of non-league games at Middletown (April 5, 4 p.m.) and Fort Bragg (April 7, 1 p.m.) before resuming league play at Healdsburg on Tuesday, April 10 (Recreation Park, 7 p.m.).Â
Meanwhile the Analy Tigers (4-5, 1-2) gained an even split in a pair of SCL outings, combining a 2-1 loss at Sonoma Valley with a 20-1 rout over Healdsburg.
This week, the Tigers host Cloverdale (April 4, 4 p.m.), visit San Marin (April 5, 4:30 p.m.) and travel to Bishop O’Dowd (April 7, 7 p.m.). The Tigers will continue SCL action on April 10 at Petaluma (4 p.m.).
Lions on a roll
El Mo played host to St. Helena in the pre-league finale on March 26, erupting for eight runs in the second inning en route to a five-inning, 10-0 win. Sharing mound duty were pitchers Bradley Swinney (2 IP, hit, K) and Patrick Atkinson (3 IP, hit, 4 BBs). Leading hitters included Wes Hamner (3 for 4, 2 2Bs, run, 3 RBIs), Sam Wilson-Mietz (3 for 3, 2 2Bs, 3 runs, 2 RBIs), Shane Spelman (2 for 2, run), Cole Van Stone (2 for 2, run, RBI), Aaron Daniels (1 for 2, RBI) and Jordan Hamner (1 for 4, 2B, run, RBI).
The Lions opened the SCL schedule the following day against visiting Piner, pushing across four runs in the home half of the first. As pitcher Wilson-Mietz made the lead hold up in a complete game effort, yielding three hits and one run while fanning seven to earn a 5-1 victory. Collecting multiple hits were Daniels (3 for 3, 2B, run, 3 RBIs), Wes Hamner (2 for 4, 2B, run), Jordan Hamner (2 for 4, 2B, run) and Wilson-Mietz (2 for 4, 2B, run).
El Molino continued its hot streak in Friday’s afternoon home tilt with Sonoma Valley, icing a tight ballgame in a three-run sixth inning to emerge with an 8-5 win. Atkinson (3 IP, 3 hits, ER, K) earned the win while Swinney (4 IP, 6 hits, 3 ERs, K) also pitched well. Leading hitters were Wes Hamner (3 for 4, 2 runs, RBI), Wilson-Mietz (2 for 4, 2B, 2 runs, RBI), Daniels (1 for 3, 2 RBIs), Curt Lewis (1 for 2, RBI), Jordan Hamner (1 for 1, run, RBI) and Spelman (1 for 2, RBI).
Tigers claim split     Â
Analy opened the league schedule in unlucky fashion on March 27 at Sonoma, wasting a great outing from pitcher Tyler Stasiowski (6.1 IP, 4 hits,ER, 9 Ks). The Tigers took a 1-0 lead into the last of the seventh when the Dragons rallied for a pair of runs to walk off with a 2-1 win.
Pacing the Analy attack were Tony Siri (2 for 2, run), Luke Tollini (2 for 3) and Austin Alvarez (2 for 3).
The Tigers took their frustrations out on an unsuspecting visiting Healdsburg squad in Friday’s outing, exploding for 14 runs in the third inning to force an early stoppage in a 20-1 rout.
Evan Alvarez tossed four innings of two hit, one run ball to earn the victory, while Luke Bertling (1 IP, 0 hit, 0 runs) closed it out in mop-up duty. Top hitters were William St. Martin (3 for 3, 2B, run, 5 RBIs), Dalton Goodrum (2 for 3, run, RBI), Jeff Pearson (2 for 2, 2B, 3 runs, 3 RBIs), Austin Alvarez (2 for 3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs), Alex Leopard (2 for 2, 3B, 4 runs, RBI), Tollini (1 for 3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) and Siri (1 for 3, 3 runs, 2 RBIs).
