OKLAHOMA CITY (May 1, 1976) - "Kyle Johnson Day" started out on a sour note here Sunday but the junior righthander finished in sterling fashion in hurling Lubbock Christian College to its fourth consecutive Texoma Conference Championship.
The Chaps used five home runs in downing Oklahoma Christian 9-2, but Johnson's moundwork stole the glory as LCC won the best-of-three series 2-1.
He retired 21 of the last 23 batters he faced in the nine inning contest. And yet that was not the story. The story was his 20 strikeouts.
At one stretch 11 consecutive outs were by the "K" route.
Speedy Faith hit Johnson's first pitch of the game over the centerfield fence and Mark Hill deposited Johnson's first pitch of the second frame over the same fence.
But that was destined to be all for the Eagles. They had runners at first and third with no outs in the third when Johnson started his streak. He struck out the next eight batters he faced and retired 14 in a row before Kris White ended the streak with a two-out seventh inning double to right field. After Faith reached on an error, Johnson retired the final seven batters he faced, including striking out the side in the ninth.
Eagle second baseman Gary Noske was the only batter to escape Johnson's strikeout pitch.
The Chaps' home run barrage started in the second when Wayne Aiken uncorked his 16th of the year.
In the third Dave Carter singled and John Harris blasted his 24th homer to give the Chaparrals all the pad they needed.
In the fifth Keary Bailey singled to left and Aiken unloaded number 17. Randy Evans blasted his 12th of the year, leading off the sixth.
In the eighth Carter walked and Harris came through right field.
Back-to-back doubles by Buddy Davis and Kim Nikkel accounted for the final run in the eighth.
Evans, Carter and Don Worth completed a hat trick for the Chaps as they have played on all four Championship teams.
LCC will take a 47-11 mark to Austin this weekend for a four-game warmup series with the University of Texas. The Chaps face District VIII (NAIA) competition in Arlington May 13-15.
OCC now stands 24-11 on the year.
Johnson became the second Chaparral hurler to surpass the 100 strikeout total in two days (Aiken reached that plateau Saturday when he whiffed 11 in a losing cause). And his record-breaking performance was all the more enjoyable because he did not walk a batter and, outside of the two gopher balls he served up, allowed only three harmless hits.
Now 10-4, Johnson needed only 158 pitches for his masterpiece and quipped afterwards "If I didn't walk anybody, then that wasn't me out there pitching."
Johnson had issued 57 walks in 83.2 innings before Sunday.
Aiken's two homers marked the third time in four games he has twice hit for the circuit.
