UPPER LAKE — A dropped popup scored as an error is all that separated Upper Lake High School’s Johnny Gozony from a perfect game Thursday afternoon as the Cougars beat the Elsie Allen High School junior varsity squad 23-0 in non-league baseball action at Upper Lake.
“He was throwing mostly fastballs, working on hitting his spots, and he was locating his pitches on the inside and on the outside,” Upper Lake head coach Brian Milhaupt said. “He was on point today.”
Gozony, who settled for a no-hitter, ended up facing the minimum 15 batters in the five-inning game because the one player who did reach base against him, that in the top of the fourth inning, was thrown out trying to steal second.
“The one error was by our backup first baseman,” Milhaupt said.
Gozony threw 55 pitches, 37 of them for strikes. He struck out the side twice and finished with nine strikeouts overall.
“He was just throwing a lot of strikes and hitting the zone,” Milhaupt said. “It’s pretty easy for your defense when your pitcher is getting nine strikeouts in five innings.”
Of the handful of balls Elsie Allen did put into play, none came close to being a hit, according to Milhaupt.
Upper Lake’s offense put a handful of crooked numbers on the scoreboard. The Cougars scored seven runs in the first six in the second, six more in the third and four in the fourth. Kyler Brothers led a 15-hit attack by going 4-for-4 with a double and four RBIs and Gozony helped himself by going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Will Henry (2-for-4) drove in four runs while Brody Petrie and Elijah Alvarez added two hits apiece.
The Cougars (3-2) have beaten Elsie Allen’s JVs twice this season. Upper Lake opens its North Central League II schedule next Thursday in Calistoga.
