Quad City Angels at Clinton Pilots
August 7th, 1970
E-Cassis, LOB QC-0, CLI-6, 2B-Martz, HR-Thomas (Heinbechner)
WP-Heinbechner, U-Hansen & Ferris, A-1729
from the Quad City Times, 8/8/70
Clinton, Iowa-Clinton pitcher John Conzatti, ignoring a strady drizzle, pitched a six-inning perfect game here Friday night against the Quad-City Angels before rain called a halt to the proceedings in the bottom of the sixth.
The 2-0 decison by the Pilots cut the Angels lead in the Midwest League to one game over rain-idled Quincy. Clinton and QC wind up their three game series here to night in a 7:30 contest before the Angels head to Waterloo for a pair.
Conzatti, a right hander from Centralia, Wash., was in complete command as the Angels failed to register anything near a base hit. He fanned half of the 18 batters he faced and only allowed two balls to be hit out of the infield.
According to league records, Conzatti's prefect game is the secon in loop history with Quad Cities' Dennis Ribant having the other in 1961 against, oddly enough, Clinton. Ribant's came at Muny Stadium in Davenport.
The game, starting in a drizzle, was scoreless for the first inning and one-half when the Pilots notched the only run they needed. A walk to Gorman Thomas preceded Gary Martz' RBI double to center.
Clinton added an insurance run in the fourth when Thomas smacked an opposite field homer to right field.
Losing pitcher Bruce Heinbechner didn't pitch that badly in the defeat. He kelt himself in hot water because of base-on-balls, yielding a pair in the second, fourth and fifth frames before getting out of trouble.
Depite the rain, a crowd of 1,729 watched Conzatti's gem before a heavy downpour hit in the bottom of the sixth with one down and Martz, who had just got an infield hit, on first.