| Conner Johnson threw the fifth no-hitter for Castleton State. Castleton State athletics photo |
Castleton, Vt. – Freshman Conner Johnson threw just the fifth no-hitter in program history as the Spartans earned a 5-1 victory in Saturday’s opening game, and the offense came through in the second game as Castleton finished off the sweep with a 6-1 win.
Making his first career start and just his fourth collegiate appearance, Johnson faced just two batters over the minimum while walking a single batter and striking out two. He gave up just one unearned run, after a walk and an error in the second inning. However, he retired the last 16 batters in order to earn the no-no. He is the first Castleton pitcher to toss a no-hitter since Dakota Aker threw one on April 7, 2012 against Maine-Farmington.
Sophomore Tyler Lord provided two of Castleton’s six hits in the opener and scored one run. Cameron Curler also added a hit, run and RBI in the contest.
UMF opened the scoring in the second inning as Johnson allowed a leadoff walk to Dustin McCrossin and a throwing error then put runners on second and third with no outs. The freshman induced a 1-4-3 double play, but McCrossin came home for the 1-0 lead.
The Spartans responded in the top of the third as Zielinski rapped a leadoff single, stole second and then took third on the errant throw. Joe Borowski and Connor Hoagland drew consecutive walks to load the bases from Matt McNamee. McNamee was hit by a pitch to score Zielinski, tying the game 1-1. Two batters later, Curler hit an RBI single to left and Tyler Hoare drove in a run on a fielder’s choice for the 3-1 advantage. An error in the inning allowed one more run to score as Castleton went ahead by three.
| Conner Jackson retired the last 16 batters for his no-hitter. Castleton State athletics photo |
Johnson shut down UMF in the final two innings to earn his first win.
In the second game. Castleton got on the board in the top of the first as Lord singled and stole second. Zielinski moved him to third on a fly out to center field and Hoagland singled Lord home, but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit to a double.
Spartan starter Matt Ravey and his counterpart Kyle Peterson kept both offenses at bay until the fifth inning.
Castleton broke out with four runs in the top of the fifth to take control of the game. Zielinski and Joe Borowski each singled with one out, and Zielinski then scored on a passed ball. Hoagland followed with a walk and McNamee doubled home a pair of runs for the 5-1 lead. Allen White added an RBI single in the inning.
UMF threatened in the in the bottom of the frame as three straight singles loaded the bases with no outs. However, Ravey struck out the next batter and induced a double play to get out of the inning. The Beavers finally got on the board with a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Castleton added to its lead with an RBI groundout by McNamee in the top of the seventh and Ravey closed it out for his first win of the year in the bottom of seventh. He went the full 7.0 innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run while striking out two batters.
Offensively, Zielinski and Borowski each went 2-for-4 as the Spartans totaled 11 hits.
Peterson went 5.0 innings in the loss, giving up four earned runs and striking out one while walking three.