HEALDSBURG — Ayden Herguth pitched a three-hitter, retiring 15 straight Middletown batters during one stretch, and the Healdsburg Greyhounds made three first-inning runs stand up in a 3-1 victory over the Mustangs on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 4 baseball playoffs at Recreation Park.
Healdsburg (17-10) advances to the quarterfinal round Saturday against No. 2 seed Justin-Siena (19-6). First pitch is 1 p.m. at Justin-Siena High School in Napa. Middletown finishes 13-12 under first-year head coach Tyler Holt, who said he has every intention of returning for a second season in 2023.
Tyler Holt hangs out with players near the Middletown dugout during warmups Wednesday evening in Healdsburg. Holt guided the Mustangs to a 13-12 record in his first season as head coach, including a 12-2 league mark. (Photos by Brian Sumpter)
"Baseball has always been everything to me," the 25-year-old Holt said. "I can't imagine it not being a part of my life."
Healdsburg just missed beating Justin-Siena in a 3-2 non-league loss back on March 17 in Napa, and Herguth for one believes the Greyhounds have a pretty good shot at winning their rematch with the Braves even though he won't be starting against them.
"We had a 2-1 lead going to the bottom of the seventh inning," he said. "They rallied for a couple of runs and beat us."
Facing the Mustangs on Wednesday under the lights at Recreation Park, Herguth, a senior team captain, set the tone early for his strong outing with a 10-pitch top of the first inning. His first eight pitches were strikes and while he did allow a one-out infield single to opposing pitcher Dax Green, he never advanced past first base.
Healdsburg struck quickly in the bottom of the first against the left-hander Green, who hit Robert Beltran to start the inning. Sam Vanden Heuvel followed with a single to right field that was mishandled for an error, allowing both runners to move up a base. Herguth hit a hard liner to right field that was caught with no advancement by the runners, but Matthew Rowland lined a single into center field to score both of his teammates. He ended up on second base when the throw home arrived just a bit late to get Vanden Heuvel.
Middletown players look on during a postgame talk Wednesday night in Healdsburg where their season ended with a 3-1 first-round playoff loss to the Greyhounds.
Rowland stole third before Gavin Valls struck out. A walk to Conroy Smith put runners at the corners for Jason Licea, and Smith broke for second base on the first pitch to Healdsburg's No. 7 hitter, intentionally getting caught in a rundown as Rowland raced home with the third run of the inning. The Mustangs eventually tagged out Smith, but the damage had been done.
"Every pitcher has that one inning," Holt said of Green's struggles in the bottom of the first. "For me it used to be in the third or fourth. He did just fine after that."
Herguth's only shaky inning followed as the Mustangs batted in the top of the second. Aiden de Jong was hit by a pitch leading off and Bryan Riel moved him over to second base with an infield single, a high chopper to the right side. It was the only time during the game that Heruth allowed consecutive Middletown batters to reach base.
With the Mustangs seemingly in business, Zach Dubois grounded the ball to third base to start a 5-3 double play as Healdsburg's third baseman stepped on the bag for the force before throwing on to first, Riel advancing to second base. Herguth ended up uncorking a pair of wild pitches with Middletown's Jesse Young at the plate, Riel moving up to third base on the first one and scoring on the next before Young grounded out to end the inning.
Middletown never threatened again. Beginning with Dubois' double play grounder in the second inning, Herguth set down 15 Mustangs in a row. He retired the side in order in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and struck out Noah Williams to open the seventh before Cole Ketchum broke up the string with a solid single into center field.
Healdsburg head coach Mark Domenichelli held a meeting on the mound at that point.
"He told me to settle down and throw strikes, keep pounding the zone," Herguth said. "I was a little tired."
With Middletown's season hanging by a thread, de Jong worked an eight-pitch at-bat before striking out, then Herguth retired Xavier Perez on six pitches to end the game, getting him on a swinging strike three.
Prior to striking out the side in the seventh, Herguth had just one other strikeout — that in the top of the first. He did not walk a batter.
"I'm the kind of pitcher who usually gets a lot of groundouts and some strikeouts," Herguth said.
If Herguth was masterful on the night, Green wasn't far behind. He blanked the Greyhounds on four hits over the final five innings and was in trouble only once as the Greyhounds had the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth, the result of an error and two walks. Green made quick work of Healdsburg's No. 9 hitter, Mac Wright, jumping ahead of him 0-2 before getting him on a routine grounder to shortstop.
"We were hopeful (after the first inning) that we would get back into the game and we hit the ball hard and that's all I can ask," Holt said. "They did good job of fielding it. They're a good team and I like playing against them."
While the Mustangs ended up losing their final three games of the season, including a 4-3 eight-inning setback at St. Helena in their North Central League I finale, an extra-inning loss that ultimately cost them the league championship, Holt said he was satisfied with what his senior-dominated squad accomplished in 2022. After a brutal 1-8 preseason against a steady stream of top-notch opponents, Middletown went 12-2 in league, its only losses coming on the road against Kelseyville and St. Helena.
"I absolutely could not be more proud of these guys," Holt said. "We should have beaten Kelseyville and we had a 3-0 lead against St. Helena. Tonight if we get a couple of balls to find the gaps we might have won this one."
Added Holt, "A lot of my guys have been together for a long time, so it's always tough to lose that last game, but we lost to a good program, so I can live with that."
Healdsburg is also a senior-dominated team and Herguth is certainly making it a season to remember, not only for the 'Hounds but for himself. Apart from his complete-game gem, he had one of the Greyhounds' six hits, a two-out infield single to shortstop in the bottom of the third inning. It was his 31st hit of the season, breaking the school record he set during a COVID-19-shortended 2021 season when he had 30 hits.
Six different Greyhounds had one hit apiece against Green, who struck out three and walked four.
All three NCL I teams in action Wednesday night lost. League champion St. Helena was upset 12-5 at home by Fortuna while Fort Bragg fell 7-0 on the road against St. Mary's. Another NCL I team, Clear Lake, fell 12-6 on the road Tuesday to Branson School in the Division 5 playoffs.
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