Gamblers win North Bay region

With a spot in the Joe DiMaggio already locked up thanks to a win over the Vallejo Mets on Saturday, Tri-County Gamblers coach Jerry Smith decided to play some of his younger players to see how they would respond to playing Mendocino, the top team from the North Bay League East Division.

Playing on Mendocino’s home field at Mendocino College in Ukiah, the Gamblers needed a few innings to figure things out before finally coming away with a 4-3 win and the North Bay Regional championship.

Tri-County will participate in the World Series starting Friday in Yountville. Last year, Tri-County finished second at the World Series.

The Gamblers got themselves into a hole in the first inning, giving up three runs to Mendocino on an error, a triple and a home run to the first three batters of the game.

However after those three batters, Tri-County pitcher Kevin Rowell was nearly perfect. Rowell threw just 59 pitches in the game in going seven innings for the win. He allowed just six baserunners the rest of the game. He picked two of them off first base and two others were erased by a double play. Two more were stranded at the corners on a flyball out in the third.

The win gives Rowell a team-best 8-0 record on the season with a 1.71 ERA.

Meanwhile the Gamblers finally started to get some breaks in the fifth. Brian Case led off the inning with a walk and Lane Taylor followed with a basehit. A bunt single by Stephen Carmack loaded the bases for Ian Mistrot.

Before Mistrot could swing the bat, however, the Cats would score two runs. First the Mendocino pitcher balked, bringing home Case from third. Then a passed ball allowed Taylor to sprint home.

Mistrot then tied the game when he hit a chopper to second base that took a high hop and made a difficult play for the fielder. Mistrot beat the throw and Carmack raced home with the tying run.

Mistrot has been one of the top hitters for the Gamblers this season, batting .474 (18-38) to place second on the team. Chris Cole leads the offense with a .514 batting average.

Carmack also scored the winning run in the top of the seventh. He led off the inning with an infield hit and went to second on a wild pitch. Mistrot then fouled off several pitches before finally lacing a double down the right field line.

Carmack and Mistrot each finished with three hits. Ray McIntire added a single and Chris Cole had a triple.

The Gamblers opened the tournament on Saturday with a 10-0 win over the Vallejo Mets. The victory guaranteed the Gamblers a spot in the World Series as no worse than the third seed.

Cole tossed a five-inning no-hitter and was one walk and one error away from pitching a perfect game. He struck out nine Vallejo batters.

Meanwhile Tri-County scored three runs in the second and fourth innings and two runs in the third and fifth.

Derek Carothers and Mistrot each had a double and two RBI while Mitchell Barsotti had an RBI double. Carmack and Cole each had an RBI single and Matt Vedo added a basehit.

Tri-County will play the North Peninsula champion, most likely Pacifica, at 1:45 p.m. on July 25 at the Veteran’s Home in Yountville. A win would place the Gamblers in the quarterfinals against either the champion of the Reno district or the No. 2 team from the North Bay Regionals, which would be either Mendocino or the Vallejo Spartans. The quarterfinal game would be played on July 26 at 4:30 p.m.

The championship game is set for July 29 at 11 a.m. with a second championship game at 1:30 p.m. if necessary.

Tri-County won its first three games at last year’s World Series in Carson City before losing its final two and finishing second.