Baseball: Johnson, Timothy Christian defeat Wheaton Academy
Carter Johnson had the perfect antidote for baserunners: 9 strikeouts.
Behind its strong senior left-hander, Timothy Christian held on for Thursday's 3-2 Metro Suburban Conference crossover baseball victory over Wheaton Academy in Elmhurst.
Despite allowing only 2 hits in his complete-game effort, Johnson (4-0) - who struck out 14 in a game earlier this season - needed his strikeout prowess to minimize the damage from 4 walks and two baserunners who reached on errors.
After stranding runners on second and third to escape a tough top of the sixth, Johnson stranded the tying run at first base to end the game and keep the Trojans (7-3, 4-0) unbeaten in the MSC.
"I was able to throw my fastball with some command and my slider worked pretty well, and my whole team just really picked me up," Johnson said. "We all play well together. We're going to keep pushing until the finish."
Wheaton Academy (5-6, 2-1) opened the scoring in the second inning with Jake Koslosky's RBI groundout, but Timothy Christian answered with all its runs in the bottom of the second. Jimmy Allen singled in the tying run, and then 2 runs scored on an errant pickoff throw to first base.
The Warriors pulled within 3-2 on a fifth-inning error but couldn't come up with a clutch hit with runners in scoring position. While Johnson took care of business for the Trojans, Koslosky closed the game with 4 scoreless innings of relief for Wheaton Academy.
"We've seen some pretty good pitching the last few days, and we talked to our kids about our approach at the plate," said Warriors coach Brad Byrne. "We're not there yet, but we've seen a lot of promise. We'll get there."
Timothy Christian is riding a four-game winning streak - all of them coming in the MSC.
"We just need to keep working hard because that's been paying off for us so far," said Trojans coach Jim Snoeyink. "We've played well. We're really happy with what's going on right now. This is a good start for us."
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