Johnson gets elusive first win as Hawks beat Bears in baseball
Despite throwing the most innings on the mound for Urbana baseball this season, right-hander Mason Johnson entered Friday still searching for his first win.
Given how well he’s pitched and how often the Hawks keep piling up victories, that fact stung a bit for his coach, Mike Frownfelter.
“Every time he pitched, it seemed like he got a no decision or we didn’t finish the job,” Frownfelter said.
But Urbana — and crucially, Johnson — finished the job Friday.
He delivered his longest high school start, tossing 6 2-3 innings of two-run ball to help the Hawks knock off Oakdale on the road, 6-2, in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The win locked up the top seed in the Class 4A West Region I for Urbana, which is also set to face rival Linganore in Tuesday’s Central Maryland Conference Large School championship game.
“It feels good to pitch with some run support, and tight games, you have to be perfect, really,” Johnson said.
He didn’t need to be perfect Friday, though he certainly showed he was capable.
Johnson pitched to contact, maximizing his efficiency and getting the Bears (13-7) to frequently swing early in counts. In the sixth inning, four consecutive batters swung at his first offering.
That kept him pitching into the seventh with little trouble, which could prove critical with a postseason campaign beginning next week.
“We’re going into playoffs, and he proved to me he could go all the way to the pitch count,” Frownfelter said. “We learned from the last few years, with those big arms that we had we thought going into the playoffs, they were a little tired. So this year, we kind of held back with the younger guys.”
Thus, Johnson has proven to be another key cog for the new-look Hawks (14-5), who continue to piece together impressive wins with a youthful and relatively inexperienced squad. The junior is one of two pitchers, along with right-hander Daniel Jakubowyc, who entered the season with varsity appearances, albeit neither had many innings to their name.
While the pitching staff has been solid, it’s become a particular strength these last two weeks. The same is true of the offense, which scratched across six runs against Oakdale.
Third baseman Kayden Lipscomb opened the scoring with a first-inning RBI single. Designated hitter Parker Bell scored on a pickoff error to send Urbana in front for good in the fourth inning, and catcher Brogan Johnson followed with an RBI single of his own.
The Hawks added three more in the fifth: Bell singled in a run, then center fielder Armando Gonzalez brought another home on a squeeze bunt before Bell came home on a double steal.
“Their swings were fantastic the entire game,” Bears coach Chris Williams said. “Urbana looked like they went up there with intent to hammer a baseball every time, and we did not go up there with that intent to hammer.”
It’s a lesson Williams hopes his players will carry into the playoffs, though they showed flashes Friday. Shortstop Liam Kahn doubled in a run in the second inning on a disputed fair/foul call, and right fielder Ty Long drilled an RBI double of his own in the sixth.
But Oakdale otherwise couldn’t do much against Mason Johnson, who finally earned that elusive first victory.
“It just gives us belief that we can go far,” he said. “We don’t have the top velocity pitchers, but if we can pitch, we can go far.”
NOTES: Urbana’s Christian Petrolle had two hits, including a triple. Connor Roussel doubled. Oakdale’s Cole Swinimer and Nick Miller each had a hit.
