With Jordan Hendrix pitching a shutout, Michael Riley igniting the offense, and catcher Jackson Campbell helping Hendrix keep the bases cleared of Wildcats, the Logan County Cougars got a big district road win Tuesday, knocking off Franklin-Simpson 6-0 in a matchup of the two teams which have made a history of dominating the 13th District in recent years.
Hendrix, who has signed to pitch for Lindsey-Wilson College, hurled a four-hitter and walked only two Wildcats while striking out three. Jackson Caudill got two of the hits with the others recorded by Jacob Curtis and Clay Spears. A key was that none of the hits went for extra bases.
Making the Hendrix win more impressive was that he was matched up against F-S ace Seth Johnson, who has been one of the region’s top pitchers while he has been in high school. Johnson worked the first five innings and was trailing 2-0 when pitching coach Kyle Gammons pulled him on a pitch count limit.
Johnson, who plans to pitch for the University of Alabama at Montevallo, was locked into three pitching classics with Logan County’s Caleb Bruner last year. In fact, Johnson lost a 1-0 no-hitter to Bruner last year on an unearned run. He threw over 130 pitches in one of those games last year, but has been experiencing shoulder pain this year, and coaches Craig Delk and Gammons are limiting his pitches this year.
“The Logan batters did a good job of taking a lot of pitches and built up my count in a hurry,” Johnson tells The LoJo. “I didn’t have my best control either.” In fact, Johnson threw 96 pitches in five innings while Hendrix needed only 90 in seven innings. Over 63 percent of Hendrix’s pitches were strikes.
In fact, the first two Cougar runs scored when Johnson and his catcher didn’t make contact. Riley scored them both. He reached doubled with two outs in the third inning. Austin Rayno singled to move him to third, and then Riley scored when the ball got away from the catcher.
In the fifth, Riley walked, stole second, got to third on a wild pitch, and scored when another one got away.
The fifth ended Johnson’s night, and his first reliever, Austin Thomason, was no mystery to the Cougars. They scored four runs off him in an inning on four hits and a walk. Only two of the turns were earned.
In that inning Campbell doubled in a run while Riley and D.J. Beard singled in one each and Nick Wooden got an RBI on a groundout.
“Once we got Johnson’s pitch count up, we were able to get to their bullpen,” Cougar coach Ethan Meguiar told Brad Stephens of the Bowling Green Daily News. Evan Figert, the Cats’ top reliever last year, hasn’t pitched in a game this season after severely injuring his shoulder in football season.
Riley was on base four times with three hits and a walk. He scored twice and drove in a run. In addition to Campbell’s double, the Cougars got singles from Rayno, Wooden, Dylan Penick and Beard. Wooden had two RBIs. Third Bell had a sacrifice bunt. Bradley Taylor and Riley stole bases.
The Cougar defense threw out three Wildcat baserunners.
The win gave the Cougars the lead in district standings. The Cougars, who are in something of a rebuilding year, have surprised the region with a 12-4 start, including 3-0 in the districts. Franklin is now 6-7 overall and 2-1 in the district.