Johnson outduels Stucke 1-0

Published:  Wednesday, May 2, 2007 (2 years, 10 months ago)
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DELPHOS — Stadium Park saw a true pitchers’ duel Monday afternoon with St. John’s ace Nick Johnson and Marion Local’s Chris Stucke matching pitch for pitch.
The Blue Jay righty fanned 14 and the home team got the only run of the contest in the first for a 1-0 barn-burner in a Midwest Athletic Conference dandy.
“Tonight was a typical MAC game with two good pitchers going at it. Fortunately for us, we were able to get one across in the first and then hung on for a much-needed win,” Jays coach Dan Metzger began. “This week is very big for us as we start tournament play on Saturday. I told the guys before the game we are at the now-or-never part of our season and if we hope to do anything in the tournament, we need to start now.”
Johnson (3-2) fanned 14 and walked only two. He ceded four hits.
The Flyers’ Stucke also only gave up four hits, walking three and whiffing five.
“We got another great outing from Nick. He was mixing up his pitches very well and his curve was breaking over for strikes,” Metzger continued. “When he has his breaking ball working that well and his fastball is hitting the low 90s, that makes for a very long night for the opposing batters.”
With one out in the Blue Jay first, Taylor Bowersock walked. An out later, Adam Grothouse doubled him in for the game’s lone tally.
“We have to relax and go into the batter’s box with a nothing-to-lose attitude and take our cuts. We did better today and we need to keep working, particularly with swinging at good pitches early,” he said.
The best chance for the Flyers to get on board was in the third. Jay Smith led off with a single and an error on a Kurt Wolters grounder put two on. Two outs later, Cory Luebke singled to center but a Brandon Hemker-Johnson-Nick Jones sequence nailed Smith at home to preserve the shutout.
Marion had one more real threat in the seventh when Nick Prenger walked, was sacrificed to second by Mark Moeller and moved to third on a passed ball. However, Johnson fanned pinch-hitter John Homan to end the game.
Johnson was also helped by Jones as the senior backstop threw out two potential base-stealers.
“We played solid defense and came up with the big plays when we needed to. Brandon did a great job in center as he threw out that guy at home and went after and caught one in the right-center gap,” Metzger added.
The Jays had a chance for an insurance run in the fourth, getting a 2-out single by Bob Koester and an error off the bat of Scott Buescher, putting runners on second and third. However, they were left stranded.
St. John’s (4-8, 2-3 MAC) is at home tonight versus MAC foe Coldwater.

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