By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph-Ogden showed it had the pitching depth to play baseball games on four consecutive days and to garner five wins in that span when it swept a doubleheader from Salt Fork on Saturday (May 14) at Jamaica.
Jack Robertson (five innings) and Luke Landrus (one inning) combined for a shutout in an 8-0 first game triumph.
Robertson allowed five hits and struck out 12. Landrus recorded two strikeouts.
In the second game, Kendrick Johnson (four innings) and Adam Price (one inning) didn’t issue any walks and permitted just two hits in a 14-1 Spartan victory. Johnson fanned three and Price struck out two.
Landrus, Tyler Altenbaumer, Coby Miller, Andrew Beyers and Griffin Roesch all collected two hits in the opener.
Altenbaumer, Miller and Roesch knocked in two runs apiece. Landrus tallied three runs and Hayden Brazelton scored twice. They both had two stolen bases.
In the second game, Price belted two hits (a double and a home run). Charles Voorhees socked two doubles and Braxton Waller contributed two hits.
Brazelton also homered in the nightcap. Driving in two runs apiece in the game were Brazelton, Altenbaumer, Price, Beyers, Roesch and Maddux Carter.
On Thursday (May 12), Altenbaumer twirled a six-inning two-hitter on Thursday (May 12) as SJ-O won its 20th consecutive game, an 11-1 knockout at home over Mattoon.
Altenbaumer (9-0) walked no one and struck out 12. He did not allow an earned run.
Miller homered and drove in two runs. He also scored twice.
Altenbaumer, Beyers, Brazelton, Landrus and Price all contributed two hits. Connor Hale and Landrus knocked in two runs.
Beyers crossed home plate three times. Scoring two runs besides Miller was Voorhees.
On Friday (May 13), SJ-O clinched a tie for the Illini Prairie Conference title with a come-from-behind 9-4 triumph at Tolono Unity.
The Spartans pulled into a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning and surged ahead to stay with a four-run sixth inning.
Brazelton (7-0) struck out six in four innings of relief for Hale and registered the win. Hale yielded one run in his three-inning stint.
Altenbaumer (three hits), Brazelton (two hits) and Roesch (two hits) accounted for all but one of the Spartans’ hits.
Beyers and Brazelton picked up two RBI apiece. Beyers and Miller each tallied two runs.
SJ-O (31-2) returns to action on Monday (May 16) at Downs Tri-Valley. SJ-O and Unity shared the IPC crown after each finished with 9-1 league records.
Coach Josh Haley’s Spartans have a 23-game winning streak and have hit the 30-win mark for the fifth time in the last eight years that the IHSA has had a spring season in baseball.
