HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Patrick Henry moves a step closer to Hogoheegee title with 5-1 win at Chilhowie (copy)
Patrick Henry's Hank Rutherford is congratulated by Carter Brown after scoring a run for the Rebels.
Chilhowie's Bryce Robinson dives back to first base as Patrick Henry's Carter Brown attempts to tag.
Patrick Henry's Aidan Monahan throws a pitch against Chilhowie on Tuesday evening.
Patrick Henry's Blake Johnson steps on third base for an out before throwing to first.
Chilhowie's Jayden Schwartz swings for a hit against Patrick Henry.
Chilhowie's Tyler Gonzalez throws a pitch against Patrick Henry on Tuesday evening.
Patrick Henry's Blake Johnson celebrates after a double at Chilhowie.
Chilhowie's Brycen Sturgill swings for a hit against Patrick Henry on Tuesday evening.
Patrick Henry's Blake Johnson swings for a hit against Chilhowie during their 5-1 win on Tuesday
Patrick Henry's Porter Blackwell gets the out at second base on Chilhowie runner Asher Chapman.
Chilhowie's Asher Chapman dives back to first base as Patrick Henry's Carter Brown attempts to tag.
Patrick Henry's Hank Rutherford goes to swing for a hit against Chilhowie.
Patrick Henry's Porter Blackwell throws to first after getting the out at second base on Chilhowie runner Brent Kilbourne.
Chilhowie's Jayden Schwartz throws to first base for an out against Patrick Henry.
Chilhowie's Jayden Schwartz leaps up to catch the ball before throwing to first base for an out against Patrick Henry.
CHILHOWIE, Va. – Blake “J.J.” Johnson hits at the bottom of Patrick Henry’s batting order and on Tuesday he helped the Rebels remain all alone atop the Hogoheegee District.
Johnson went 2-for-3 from the ninth spot and senior Aidan Monahan delivered a valiant pitching performance as PH posted a crucial 5-1 win over the Chilhowie Warriors and moved closer to clinching a district baseball championship.
Patrick Henry (14-2, 7-0) now leads the Hogoheegee by two games over Chilhowie (12-6, 5-2) and Honaker (12-4, 5-2) with three league games remaining.
Johnson provided a lift on Tuesday, delivering a two-strike, two-out double to deep left-center field in the top of the third inning. That was PH’s first baserunner against Chilhowie freshman pitcher Tyler Gonzalez.
“That felt great honestly,” Johnson said. “I thought it might have snuck over, but I was fine with a double. As long as I am doing my job for this team, that’s all that matters.”
He later crossed the plate on an RBI single by Kolby Hicks, the first of three runs scored by the Rebels in that inning.
Johnson produced a run-scoring infield single the next inning as well.
“I knew that was going to happen,” Monahan said. “He did good in practice yesterday and hit a couple out.”
Johnson almost had a third hit.
He smashed a line drive up the middle in the sixth inning that would have been a hit in most cases but instead was snagged by Gonzalez and resulted in a double play.
“He apologized for that and I said, I don’t know what you can really do on that,” said Patrick Henry coach Eric Rutherford. “He tattooed it.”
Johnson had a single, walk, run scored and RBI in a 12-2 win over Chilhowie on April 17.
“I thought in both games [against the Rebels], the hitters in the bottom of the order really came through for ‘em and delivered,” Robinson said. “It happened again today.”
Kolby Hicks had pitched well in the previous win over Chilhowie, but Rutherford opted to go with Monahan on the mound in the rematch.
“It was almost a gametime decision today because Kolby’s been throwing really well,” Rutherford said. “Aidan always throws good up here and we went with him.”
Monahan weaved in and out of trouble all day as he did not have a single 1-2-3 inning. However, he allowed just one run and notched 10 strikeouts in going the distance.
It seemed the busier the basepaths, the better he pitched.
“It’s not any different than pitching with nobody on, except you just don’t use your wind-up,” Monahan said. “It doesn’t really make me nervous. If someone’s on third, I can see them out of the corner of my eye, but I’m not scared of them. The only one that matters is the guy at the plate.”
Monahan was helped by his defense, particularly in the fourth inning when Connor Brown, Porter Blackwell and Carter Brown teamed up for a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Hicks also made a nice running catch in centerfield to end the sixth inning.
“It felt good to see the defense play a really good game,” Rutherford said. “There were a couple that we kicked around, but we made some good plays. We wanted to make the routine plays and we made a few non-routine plays too.”
Chilhowie actually held an 8-7 advantage in hits but wound up leaving 10 runners on.
“That’s been the story for us in a lot of our losses. We hit the ball, we get guys on base, but we can’t get them in,” Robinson said. “You can’t strike out double-digit times in a big game and expect you’re going to win.”
Freshman Bryce Robinson finished with two hits and scored the only run for Chilhowie on an error in the third inning. Senior catcher Landon Bowman also tallied two hits.
The Warriors will need lots of help if they hope to three-peat as district champs.
“It’s out of our control now,” Robinson said. “We’ve just got to find it and start playing our best baseball. I thought we turned the corner this weekend [at a tournament in Prestonsburg, Kentucky], but we’ve still got a ways to go. ... There’s still a lot of goals left to accomplish.”
Patrick Henry, meanwhile, is closing in on that district title. The Rebels have Hogoheegee games remaining with Honaker, Rural Retreat and Northwood.
“We just want to go 1-0 each day and win ‘em all,” Rutherford said.
Hicks added two hits for PH, which has had all nine players in its lineup have strong performances at some point during the season.
Johnson had his moment in the spotlight on Tuesday.
“I struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season,” Johnson said. “I’ve been putting in as much work as I can. All glory to God, he’s really the reason I am out here playing this game.”
Patrick Henry 003 200 0—5 7 2
Chilhowie 001 000 0—1 8 0
Monahan and Rutherford. Gonzalez and Bowman. W – Monahan. L – Gonzalez. HR – none.
