Super slip doesn't mar Goset's perfection

| Friday, April 26, 2002 10:00 PM PDT ∞

Greg Ball
Staff Writer

WILDOMAR ---- Travis Goset's flawless day almost didn't happen. And it was teammate and fellow left-hander Matt Strom who nearly stole Goset's day to remember ---- twice.

Goset pitched a perfect game in Temecula Valley's 16-0 victory over Elsinore on Friday, but wasn't slated to start until an 11th-hour decision by Golden Bears coach Rich Emard to replace Strom with Goset on the mound. Five innings into the game, Strom ---- somehow unaware of strict baseball superstitions regarding performances of such magnitude ---- was the one to inform Goset of his potential milestone.

Luckily for Strom, the transgression didn't affect Goset. The senior southpaw set down all 21 batters he faced, striking out 10 along the way. The last batter he faced, Elsinore catcher Felipe Gonzalez, hit a high chopper behind the mound, but Temecula shortstop Jorge Araiza handled it cleanly and fired to first for the final out.

"Matt Strom told me," chuckled Goset, who had never thrown a perfect game or even a no-hitter before. "I looked on the scoreboard and saw it, and just said, 'I can't think about it.' "

Temecula (13-8, 4-2 league) made Goset's job easy, exploding for 16 runs on 17 hits off three Tigers pitchers. Elsinore made six errors, and nine of Temecula's runs were unearned.

Goset (5-2) wasn't overpowering by any means, but moved the ball around the plate and was sharp with both his curveball and changeup. He kept Elsinore's batters guessing all day.

"The umpire was giving me the corners, and I was hitting my spots and making them hit the ball," he said. "My curveball started feeling good. My changeup wasn't that good, but it was OK. I stayed on the outside corner with my fastball all day."

Emard has been coaching for 28 years and has never been involved in a perfect game.

"(Goset's) been throwing three pitches, he's been getting ahead of the hitters, and he's been changing speeds. With him, it's about pitching ---- the art of pitching. He had everybody off balance. His curveball and changeup and his fastball ---- when he threw it ---- were working. Everything about the performance was a real lesson in pitching."

The Golden Bears had five players with at least two hits, led by Araiza, who had a career day, going 5-for-6 with five RBIs and five runs scored. Elsinore transfer Nathan Faulkner went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Araiza hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, and Faulkner smacked a three-run blast in the sixth.

"The ball looked like a beach ball today," Araiza said. "It looked real big. It's always fun when you hit like that."

Elsinore catcher Felipe Gonzalez said Goset was sharp, but added that the Tigers (6-14, 1-8) didn't give themselves much of a chance against him.

"We took a lot of strikes," he said. "He had a good curveball, but we just weren't hitting. He threw a lot of strikes, and we weren't going in there with a game plan."

Greg Ball can be reached at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2629 or gball@nctimes.com

4/27/02

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