Johnson’s 5-for-5 Game Helps Chargers to Split With Owls

RIVER GROVE — Ashton Johnson (Brimfield, Ill./Brimfield) had a five-hit game as the Carl Sandburg College baseball team bounced back from a walk-off loss in Game 1 to rout Oakton in the nightcap of a doubleheader Saturday on the campus of Triton College.

GAME 1
Oakton 3, Sandburg 2 (8 innings)
Sandburg         000      100      10        —        2          7          0
Oakton            200      000      01        —        3          7          0
L: Silas Israel 7.1 IP, 6 K, 0 BB

KEY MOMENTS
• The Chargers pushed the game to extra innings after plating the tying run in the seventh. Jack Shields (Peoria Heights, Ill./Notre Dame) led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Logan Van Heuklon (Dunlap, Ill./Dunlap) infield single. Logan Korte (Metropolis, Ill./Massac County) brought Shields in with a groundout to short.
• Oakton's Andrew Rubin hit a 3-1 pitch to left with one out in the eighth to win it for the Owls.

SANDBURG STANDOUT
Chargers starter Silas Israel (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) went the distance while taking a hard-luck loss. The lefty scattered seven hits in 7.1 innings. He didn't issue a walk and fanned six of the 29 batters he faced.

OTHER TOP CHARGERS
• Mitch Ball (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) — 2 for 3, triple, RBI
• Van Heuklon — 2 for 3

GAME 2
Sandburg 14, Oakton 2
Sandburg         500      320      4          —        14        17        0
Oakton            010      000      1          —        2          6          0
W: McKoy Mason 5 IP, 3 K, 1 BB

KEY MOMENT
The Chargers (25-19) opened with a five-run first, getting RBI hits from Cam Scott (Mapleton, Ill./Illini Bluffs), Caileb Johnson (Brimfield, Ill./Brimfield), Ball and Van Heuklon in addition to a Korte RBI fielder's choice.

SANDBURG STANDOUT
Ashton Johnson finished 5 for 5 out of the leadoff spot, scoring four times, driving in two and stealing a base. He singled and scored in the first, doubled in the second, singled and scored in the fourth, homered to left in the fifth, and singled and scored in the seventh.

OTHER TOP CHARGERS
• Scott — 2 for 4, double, walk, run, three RBIs
• C. Johnson — 3 for 5, run, two RBIs
• Ball — 2 for 5, double, run, two RBIs, stolen base
• Korte — 2 for 3, home run, walk, three runs, two RBIs

UP NEXT FOR SANDBURG
2 p.m. Monday at Southwestern Illinois 

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