Moniteau settles for split
Brandon Matthews and Aiden Zimmerman traded places Saturday at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park.
The senior right-handers — Matthews for Moniteau, Zimmerman for Johnsonburg — both won and lost a game on the mound for their respective teams. The Warriors nipped Johnsonburg, 5-4, in 13 innings in the continuation of a suspended game from March 22 in Johnsonburg. Matthews tossed three scoreless innings Saturday to get the win.
Zimmerman pitched the 13th for the Rams and allowed the winning run to score. He followed that up with a masterful four-hit shutout in a 3-0 Johnsonburg triumph.
“It felt good to win that first one,” Matthews said. “We had lost a few games in a row and needed to get that win.”
The game was 4-4 after 10 innings in March when it was suspended. Moniteau (3-7) had runners in scoring position with no outs in the 11th and 12th innings, but failed to score.
Johnsonburg (7-3) missed a bigger opportunity to win in the bottom of the 12th. Kaden Dennis opened the winning with a walk, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Dennis broke for the plate and was picked off there by Matthews, whose throw to catcher Keagan Book easily got the out.
With one out in the Moniteau 13th, Landon Kelly tripled to left as the ball squirted past the left fielder. Pinch-hitter James Gillen, a freshman, singled up the middle to plate the go-ahead trun. Matthews shut the door in the bottom of the inning.
“We’ve been struggling with our hitting,” Matthews said. “We have to get more hits with runners in scoring position.”
Matthews started the regularly-scheduled game on the mound and was lifted in the third inning after allowing a run-scoring double to Zimmerman. Dawson Cook, another freshman, came on and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Dennis, giving the Rams a 3-0 lead.
Cook threw four scoreless innings, sophomore Connor Ealy pitching a scoreless seventh for the Warriors. But Moniteau managed only four hits against Zimmerman.
“Aiden was pitching on very little sleep, too,” Johnsonburg coach Michael Porter said. “He got back from a senior trip late yesterday and didn't get to bed until around 2:30 a.m. He had maybe five hours sleep.
“We asked him to suck it up and eat some innings for us today. We needed to set up our pitching for the week and he more than did that.”
Zimmerman struck out seven, walked no one and threw 62 of his 88 pitches for strikes.
“That’s who he is,” Porter said. “He’s a strike-thrower.”
Zimmerman also doubled and singled, scored a run and knocked one in for the Rams.
Ealy doubled with one out for Moniteau in the third, but was cut down at third base trying to advance on an errant pitch. Wallace tripled with one out in the Warrior sixth, but was stranded.
The Warriors had four freshmen and two sophomores in the starting lineup. Matthews was the only senior starter.
Johnsonburg 012 000 0 — 3 4 2
Moniteau 000 000 0 — 0 4 3
WP: Aiden Zimmerman 7IP (7so, 0bb). LP: Brandon Matthews 2IP (1so, 2bb).
Johnsonburg (7-3): Aiden Zimmerman 2B 1B RBI, Kaden Dennis RBI, Cam Larkin 3B RBI, Rocco Delhunty 1B.
Moniteau (3-7): Connor Ealy 2B, Dawson Cook 2-1B, Dawson Wallace 3B.
Tuesday: Moniteau at North Clarion
