Chapmanville's Corey Johnson delivers a pitch to homeplate during the Tigers win at Scott on April 24. Johnson took a no-hitter into the fourth inning of Saturday's 3-2 win at Charleston Catholic (Photo courtesy of CKG Graphics).
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
CHARLESTON Corey Johnson took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and Talan Thompson had a pair of doubles helping Chapmanville defeat Charleston Catholic, 3-2, in a battle of top ranked teams in their respective classes Saturday afternoon at Coach Bill Mehle Field at the Shawnee Sports Complex.
Brody Dalton and Andrew Farley each had one hit and one RBI for Class AA No. 1 Chapmanville, who led 3-0 entering the seventh inning, but had to hold off a late rally from Class A No. 1 Charleston Catholic for its 20th win of the season.
Johnson (4-0), who allowed a leadoff single to Jeffrey Reynolds to start the fourth inning, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out four and walked three in 6 1/3 innings.
Kelan Swan led off the seventh inning with a single. Luke Blaydes single with one out was followed by a run-scoring single off the bat of Gannon Morris allowing Swan to score and cut Chapmanville’s lead to 3-1.
Swan scored ahead of Joey Canterbury’s throw from left field. On the throw to the plate, Blaydes broke for third base, and scored when Thompson’s throw sailed into left field, allowing Blaydes to score to cut the Tigers lead to 3-2 and allowing Morris to take third.
Farley relieved Johnson and struck out the next two batter in the Irish lineup to earn his third save of the season.
Chapmanville took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, when Farley scored on an attempted double steal as Joey Canterbury was thrown out at second allowing Farley to score from third base on the throw down.
The Tigers added to their lead in the sixth inning scoring a pair of runs on four hits. Thompson had a one out double, his second of the game, and came around to score on Dalton’s RBI single to make it 2-0. Two batters later, Farley singled to score Dalton to give Chapmanville a 3-0 lead.
Charleston Catholic ace Johan DiCocco allowed a one out double to Thompson, the second batter of the game, and left the game after throwing just nine pitches.
Morris relieved DiCocco and allowed three runs on six hits, striking out four and walking one in 6 2/3 innings. At the plate, Morris was 2-for-4 with one RBI for the Irish.
Swan was 1-for-1 with a run, Blaydes 1-for-2 with a run and Reynolds, who had the first hit for the Irish, went 1-for-2.
Thompson finished 2-for-3 at the plate with two doubles and a run for Chapmanville. Dalton was 1-for-3 with a double, RBI and one run while Farley went 1-for-2 with one RBI and a run.
Trey Butcher and Canterbury each went 1-for-3 and Luke Knight was 1-for-4 for the Tigers.
Chapmanville (20-4) snapped a two-game losing streak with the win while Charleston Catholic (20-5) lost its second consecutive game.