LUBBOCK, Texas (February 23, 2018) –
Ryan Johnson's one-hit shutout was one of two complete game pitching performances by No.10 Lubbock Christian University, as
Daniel Crooks followed Johnson's no-hit bid allowing one run and receiving offensive support from a grand slam by
Ryan Rogers, and LCU swept Metropolitan State University of Denver in a doubleheader 5-0 and 9-1 Friday afternoon at Hays Field. The pair of wins extends LCU's win streak to five games.
The left-hander Johnson took the spotlight in the opener with his complete game one-hit shutout. He faced three batters over the minimum, with three free passes offered to Roadrunners batters. Hunter Donaldson broke up the no-hit bid in the seventh inning with one out, as Johnson was two outs away from LCU's first no-hitter since Feb. 1, 2008. Metro State never had a runner in scoring position during the contest. The last one-hitter for the Chaps came Apr. 14, 2017 at Oklahoma Panhandle State, with the combination of
Russell Reber,
EJ Ramos,
Nathan Dockery and
Nick Hooper combining for the one-hitter. The last complete game one-hitter by a Chaps pitcher was conducted on Feb. 20, 2016 by Guillaume Blanchette, who completed the task against Angelo State.
Johnson (1-1), who had received one run of support by the Chaps offense in his two prior starts, received early scoring production from his offense.
Andrew Pratt opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a two-out RBI-single, on what was the third of three straight two-out singles by the Chaps in the inning. Chaps made it 2-0 in the second inning with
Keaton Greenwalt scoring on a Roadrunners error. Greenwalt helped extend LCU's lead with his bat in the fifth inning with a single through the left side to plate
James Hardberger. LCU grabbed some insurance in the sixth inning with
Ryan Rogers producing a double to right centerfield, followed by a sacrifice fly from A.J. Perez.
Rogers' double was LCU's only extra-base hit of their 13 hits. He led LCU at the plate going 3-for-4. His hot bat continued in the second game. Trailing 1-0 after the Roadrunners opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly by Donaldson, Rogers crushed a grand slam over the left field wall in the third inning for a 4-1 lead. The slam was Rogers' fourth career home run and his second career home run at Hays Field. It was the first grand slam by a Chap since
Dillon Drury hit one at Wayland Baptist on Mar. 22, 2016 and the first grand slam at Hays Field since Ethan Kohnle hit one against West Texas A&M on Apr. 7, 2015.
LCU added to the 4-1 lead in the fourth inning with three more runs.
Braden Hayward produced his first double of the season, which plated
Payton Rhodes, and
Logan Nethercot followed driving in a pair with a single up the middle for a 7-1 lead. It was eventually nine unanswered runs for LCU, as
Will Clark tripled in the sixth inning to score Nethercot and Greenwalt to cap the scoring.
Crooks (1-1) allowed one run off three hits in the first inning, but settled down to allow one hit over the game's remainder. He allowed one hit to the final 21 batters faced and went a sequence of facing 13 consecutive batters without allowing a hit.
Rogers, 2-for-4 in the second game with four runs-batted-in, finished the day 5-for-9 with five RBI. Nethercot went 2-for-3 with two RBI in the second game.
Metro State was held to a combined five hits on the afternoon. Roadrunner starting pitchers Javi Vega (2-1) and Cade Crader (1-2) were each saddled with the loss. The Roadrunners fall to 4-7 on the season.
LCU's five straight wins places their record at 6-4. They complete the four-game series, going for the series sweep, Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.366 | Metro State, entering the day hitting .366 as a team, was held to a combined .111 batting average on the day, going 5-for-45 at the plate.
1 |
AJ Perez's sacrifice fly in the opening game marked his first sacrifice fly in the sophomore's LCU career.
3 | Chaps have produced at least one hit with the bases loaded in three consecutive games.
5 |
Ryan Rogers produced five hits Friday. The team's leader in batting average last season entered the game with four hits on the season. He has six hits in the series (6-for-12, .500).
7 |
Logan Nethercot, who opened the season 0-for-8, extended his hit streak to a team-leading seven games. He has four multi-hit games in the span.
9 | LCU combined for nine hits with runners in scoring position on the day, going 5-for-10 in the second game. They entered the game with 10 on the season.
12 |
Ryan Johnson averaged 12 pitches per inning in his complete game, as he tallied 84 pitches. Average of 3.5 per batter faced.
