UPPER LAKE — The Upper Lake Cougars had a 19-3 lead against the Potter Valley Bearcats on Monday when the varsity baseball game between the two teams was suspended after four complete innings because of darkness.
To be official, a game has to go at least four and a half innings.
“Technically it’s no game,” Upper Lake head coach Brian Milhaupt said. “We’re going to try and see if we can go over there later this season and play them again. Hopefully we can complete this one first.”
Upper Lake (0-0) canceled two games last week before finally taking the field against Potter Valley.
“We had kids wrestling into the sections (and one into the state tournament) and our basketball team made the playoffs,” Milhaupt said of the baseball team’s delayed start. “We’ve only had four full team practices since Bradley (Sneathen) joined us (Sneathen qualified for the state wrestling finals and is one of Milhaupt’s top players). We just weren’t ready to play games until today.”
Johnny Gozony worked the first three innings for Upper Lake, allowing three runs (none earned) and Potter Valley’s only hit while striking out five and walking three. Freshman Kyler Brothers worked a scoreless fourth, striking out one and walking two.
Upper Lake snapped a 2-all tie with a four-run bottom of the second. It was 6-3 in the Cougars’ favor going to the bottom of the fourth when they batted around and scored 11 times.
There were several bright spots for Upper Lake in its season opener. First-year player Sammy Avalos, batting in the leadoff position and playing center field, went 1-for-1 with a bases-loaded triple and four walks. Sneathen (2-for-2) doubled and knocked in five runs while Dylan Slater went 1-for-2 with a ground-rule double with the bases loaded. The ball was hit so far it ended up in left field of the Cougars’ softball game with Upper Lake, which was going on at the same time.
“It should have been a triple and he should have had three RBIs,” Milhaupt said of Slater and his long double.
Brothers, playing in his first high school game, went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
“He’s just a good athlete,” Milhaupt said of his shortstop. “So is Avalos.”
“Our bats came alive and we were aggressive at the plate,” said Milhaupt, who was pleased with his team’s first effort of the season. “The kids played a good game even if it wasn’t official.”
Upper Lake hits the road Thursday to play the Elsie Allen junior varsity squad in Santa Rosa at 3:30 p.m.
