Landrus holds on for a Spartan save
By Fred Kroner
Luke Landrus picked up his third save in his fourth outing of the spring on Thursday (April 20) as the St. Joseph-Ogden baseball team held on and posted a 4-3 victory at Pontiac.
Landrus pitched the final 1 2/3 innings in relief of Nolan Earley (4-0). Earley yielded two hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. Landrus walked three and fanned two, while giving up one hit.
Adam Price, Charles Voorhees and Braxton Waller led the SJ-O offense with two hits apiece. Voorhees has eight hits in his last 10 at-bats while Waller has 11 hits in his last 17 at-bats. Waller drove in two runs and Voorhees scored twice.
On Saturday (April 22), SJ-O swept a doubleheader at Chillicothe IVC, 8-3 and 4-0.
The Spartans scored all eight runs in the opener in the second inning. Kendrick Johnson used the support to improve his pitching record to 4-0. He went six innings, walked one and fanned five. Coy Taylor pitched the final inning, retiring all three batters he faced.
Taylor also led the hit Spartans’ parade, going 3-for-3. Earley and Landrus totaled two hits and two RBI apiece in Game 1.
In the second game, Jack Robertson fired the Spartans’ eighth shutout of the spring. He scattered two hits, walked no one and struck out a season-high 11 hitters. He was the school’s fifth different pitcher with a shutout this spring.
Taylor (2-for-3) and Price (2-for-4) paced the offense in Game 2. Price delivered two RBI. Taylor tallied two runs.
Earley, Landrus and Taylor were the Spartans with hits in each game.
On Monday (April 24), SJ-O swatted Mount Pulaski, 9-6, in a game o n the road that the Spartan led, 8-0, after four innings.
Connor Hale pitched 4 1/3 innings and picked up the win. He walked four and fanned seven. Caleb Ochs worked the final 2 2/3 innings and nabbed a save. He walked no one and struck out four.
Price had two RBI. Jared Altenbaumer, who walked on all four of his plate appearances, scored two runs as did Garret Denhart.
The Spartans (19-4 overall and 7-0 in the Illini Prairie Conference) have won 13 straight games. SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday (April 25) at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.
