July 23, 2018 Healdsburg, CA Jake MacNichols (Santa Clara) hit a three-run home run and an RBI-triple, and Kevin Sandri (Pacific) had a game-high three hits and three runs scored to lead the Healdsburg Prune Packers to a 6-4 win over the San Luis Obispo Blues today at Recreation Park, a win that clinched Healdsburg a berth in the CCL Playoffs set to start Saturday in Thousand Oaks. MacNichols' home run came with one out in the fifth inning and drove in Sandri, who had singled to lead off the inning, and Ben Sanderson (UC Santa Barbara), who had walked. The three-run shot put the Packers up 5-3 and flipped the lead for the third and last time in the game. Healdsburg had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in their first at bat when Sandri and Sanderson hit leadoff singles and Sandri later scored on a sacrifice fly. Justin Lutes (Pepperdine) then hit a three-run home run to put the Blues up 3-1 in the second inning, driving in Luc Lipcius (Tennessee) and Jack Kuzma (Cal Poly) both who had singled, and Sandri tripled and scored on MacNichols' triple in the third to get the Packers within one. Frankie Scalzo (San Jose St) started on the mound for San Luis, allowing five runs on seven hits while striking out four in four and one-third innings to suffer the loss. Cole Tucker, who relieved Scalzo after MacNichol's home run, allowed one unearned run in the fifth after issuing a two-out walk, an error allowed the runner to advance to third and a Clay Koelzer (Texas Tech) RBI-single made the score 6-3. Tucker then retired ten of the next eleven batters he faced, striking out four in his three-plus innings, to finish the game for the Blues. Henrik Reinertsen (Pacific) was the starting pitcher for Healdsburg, allowing the three early Blues runs on four hits in two and a third innings before being relieved by Shamus Lyons who got the last two outs of the third inning, pitched a scoreless fourth and fifth innings and was charged with a run allowed when Auston Chastain (Fresno St) hit a one-out triple in the sixth and scored on a Blayne Jones (Dallas Baptist) RBI-single after Jared Noonan (UC Riverside) relieved Lyons. Noonan and Eric Parnow pitched around two leadoff singles by Lipcius and Slade Heggen (Gonzaga) and a walk in the seventh inning, getting a big double-play when Lipcius was thrown out trying to tag and advance to third on a flyball out and Parnow picking a runner off first base to maintain the Packers lead. Chrit Rudkin (Montevallo) then retired the Blues in order in the eighth inning and pitched around a one-out single by Brian Klein (Texas Tech) in the ninth to close out the win. The win assures Healdsburg a spot in the CCL Playoffs Saturday. The Blues, who have concluded their regular season play, will need Healdsburg to beat the Conejo Oaks on Friday to make it to the playoffs. Click here for recaps of this game