UPPER LAKE — See Max catch, see Max throw, see Max hit.
It was Max Curtis day at Upper Lake High School on Friday as the host Cougars beat the Mendocino Cardinals 12-1 in a game called after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Upper Lake banged out 10 hits and scored in every inning while improving to 3-1 on the season. The Cougars didn”t commit an error and also received solid pitching from starter Steven Andre and reliever Billy Binns, who combined on a three-hitter.
Curtis, a senior center fielder, took an extra-base hit away from a Mendocino player in the top of the third inning when he ran down a ball in the right-center field gap, and he threw out a runner at the plate to end the game, fielding a single with a runner on second and throwing a strike to the catcher.
“It was a beautiful play,” Upper Lake coach Joe Ogulin said of Curtis” catch in the right-center field gap in the third. “He ran under it and caught it.”
Curtis also contributed a two-run double in the fifth for the Cougars” final two runs.
“He”s key,” Ogulin said of Curtis” importance to the team this season.
Mendocino scored an unearned run in the top of the first but Upper Lake answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. The Cougars then put the game away with four runs in the second and three more in the third.
Jayce Meri, Joe Barnes, Jordan Hickey and James Eubanks had two hits apiece for the Cougars.
Andre, the winning pitcher, worked three innings for the victory, allowing one hit, striking out five and walking three.
Upper Lake travels to Potter Valley on Tuesday.
