Johnnies hammer Trojans, 14-4

CENTERBURG — The offense of the Johnstown High School baseball team was on a roll on Tuesday afternoon against the host Centerburg Trojans. So much so that the only thing that was able to slow it down was darkness. The game was called after six innings to give the Johnnies a 14-4 victory, and their second Mid-Buckeye Conference win in as many days.

Things got rolling for the Johnnies in the second inning. After a walk to load the bases, Michael Reeves singled and Cory Keesee and Kurt Sammons both scored on the play. J.D. Davis scored on a wild pitch moments later. Two batters later, Andy Beitel hit an RBI single to make it 6-0.

After getting a double play to end the top of the inning, Centerburg cut the lead in half of the bottom half of the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Cory Hartfield hit a run-scoring single. Chris Fielding followed with a two-run base hit to make it a 6-3 ball game.

Johnstown managed to extend its lead in the top half of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Matt Young reached on an error, as Davis and Kyle Dodderer crossed the plate. Beitel hit a sacrifice fly two batters later, and Kessee scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat to make it a 10-3 ballgame.

After another Johnstown run during the top of the sixth, the Trojans got a run back in the bottom of the inning as Justin Parker crossed the plate to cut the lead to 11-4. That run went right back, however, as the first three batters singled to start the seventh inning for Johnstown. Wil Middleton, Beitel and Kessee all scored in the inning. After a Dodderer flyout, the umpires called the game due to dark field conditions.

“We knew we should be good at hitting. It’s just been a matter of getting everything going for us,” said Johnstown head coach Don Carter. “We’ve been coming off of spring break, when we were missing a few kids. It’s been nice to be able to give kids consistent at-bats on back-to-back days. That’s been a big part of what’s been helping at the plate.”

Young led the Johnnies with three RBI and two runs scored. Reeves finished the day with three hits, two runs and two RBI. Beitel, Keesee and Sammons all finished the afternoon with a pair of hits and pair of RBI. Dodderer and Davis each finished the day with two runs scored.

Johnstown was also able to take advantage of a few free bases, via error and hit batsmen.

“It’s definitely helpful to get free bases, and we were able to take advantage of some of those opportunities today,” said Carter. “We were also able to get some sacrifice hits in today. That’s certainly going to be apart of our gameplan.”

Fielding led the Trojans with a hit and two RBI on the afternoon. Hartfield finished the day with a hit, an RBI and a run scored. Daubenspeck and Parker also finished with a hit and a run scored on the day.

“We were able to hit the ball fairly well today, but it always seemed to go right to one of the Johnstown players,” said Centerburg head coach Joe Smith. “Our problem was our pitching not being up to par like it has been earlier in the week. It’ll come around though.”

Both teams will return to the diamond on Thursday. Johnstown will play host to the Fredericktown Freddies while Centerburg will head to Utica for a showdown with the Redskins. Both of those games are set to begin at 5 p.m.