VC grad Osterhout tosses perfect game

By Kyle Adams
Posted 4/6/22

Greg Osterhout, a 2020 graduate of Valley Central High School and current pitcher at Cayuga Community College, threw a perfect game on Sunday, April 3 against SUNY Adirondack.

Osterhout got the …

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VC grad Osterhout tosses perfect game

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Greg Osterhout, a 2020 graduate of Valley Central High School and current pitcher at Cayuga Community College, threw a perfect game on Sunday, April 3 against SUNY Adirondack.

Osterhout got the start in the first game of the double-header in Auburn, NY. The Spartans went on to win both games, 6-0 in the first and 6-3 in the second.

“Nobody said anything about it, but I feel like everybody knew,” Osterhout said. “I started to realize in maybe the fourth or fifth inning.”

“Our guys flooded to him and that was great to watch. They were happy to win the game, they were happy to be a part of this and they were happy for Greg,” said Cayuga Head Coach John Rizzo. “They saw all the work he’s put in to come back and they know he deserves this.”

Last August, Osterhout had ulnar nerve transposition surgery in his elbow, leading to a long recovery.

Sunday marked Osterhout’s fifth start since the procedure.

The former Viking struck out 14 Adirondack hitters in the seven-inning game, but noted the feat wouldn’t have happened without his left fielder and center fielder.

“Without my left fielder and centerfielder, the perfect game wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

“Logan Shaesgreen and Alex Wurster made two great catches to save the game.”

Wurster’s catch came early on, in the third inning, while Shaesgreen’s catch came with one out in the seventh, leaving Osterhout with only one out to go. He threw 105 pitches in the game.

To cap it all off, the Spartans didn’t even know if they were going to play the game, due to weather conditions.

For that reason, Osterhout’s family did not make the trip out to see his start. Rather, they watched the live stream on Cayuga’s Facebook page.

“It was pretty bad conditions,” Osterhout said. “It was 35 degrees, raining and snowing. I didn’t know if I was going to have my best stuff. I was a little shaky in the first inning. My fastball wasn’t going exactly where I wanted it to go. After the first everything came together and I was locked in.”

“I was just hitting my spots. I feel like I was doing that better than I have in my other starts and I was throwing the right pitches in the right spots.”

In his six appearances this season, Osterhout has thrown 25 innings and is 3-2 with a 3.24 ERA and 29 strikeouts.

The Spartans have an overall record of 8-4 and are 3-1 in their league.

During his freshman season on March 27, 2021, Osterhout pitched 10 innings in a 1-0 extra-inning complete game shutout over SUNY Adirondack – the same team he threw the perfect game against on Sunday.

“Greg probably had the best control of any pitcher I’ve seen since I started coaching college baseball,” Rizzo said.

“That’s a reason he’s so effective. He throws a lot of competitive strikes and mixes speeds well. His fastball comes out of his hand hot and he’s got a really, really good changeup. He was able to keep them off balance all day.

He was great and it was fun to watch.”