Big Picture: McCarty strikes out 12, Spartans hammer Panthers in home game

Back on April 12 in 2019, the Spartans rolled to overwhelming 9-1 victory over visiting Paxton-Buckley-Loda in a non-conference meet up in the 'Joe'. The St. Joseph-Ogden baseball team collected six hits with juniors Drew Coursey and Jaden Miller pounding a couple RBIs apiece.

Despite giving up a fifth-inning home run by Keyn Humes, SJO hurler Keegan McCarty picked up the win striking out 12 batters in five innings.

Adam Frerichs, Sam Wesley, Kaden Jacobs, Nick Boggs also recorded hits against PBL.

Here are the editor's top picks from the 170 action photos from the game.


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Spartans crush the Turks in road win

On the warmest day so far this spring, Keegan McCarty helped the St. Joseph-Ogden baseball team earn their eight win of the season at the Clinton Varsity Baseball Invitational. The junior hurler, who gave up six hits, struck out three in the 11-1 victory on Saturday.

SJO's Adam Frerichs waits for a pitch
Adam Frerichs waits for a pitch in SJO's home game against Westville last week. The Spartans will alternate in home-away-home game schedule this week as they prepare for a deep postseason run later this spring. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)



Blake Primmer led the Spartans' offensive effort with 3 RBI and catcher Adam Frerichs pounded away a pair of hits in the first of two games at the Invite.

SJO has two home and one away contest on tap over the next seven days. Opening the week, Primmer & Co. will host the Rantoul Eagles on Monday at 4:30p in a regular season conference game. Then it's a road trip to Bloomington on Thursday for an Illini Prairie Conference battle against the Saints of Central Catholic.

The Spartans close out the week at the SJO sports complex with a visit from Paxton-Buckley-Loda on Friday.


Box Score:
SJO ___    200 102 6 11-6-1
Tremont     000 100 0  1-7-2


From the editor: The conference game canceled on April 4 with St. Thomas More has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 24. First pitch is slated for 4:30p.

Spartans notch first win at SJO Toyota of Danville Classic

St. Joseph-Ogden won and it wasn't pretty.

The Spartans dominated the first half of their SJO Toyota of Danville Classic opener against Chicago Longwood galloping to a 17 point lead at the half against in their game on Friday night. The Panthers clawed their way back to get with in six points in the second half, but could not put the brakes on the Spartans, who picked up their third W of the season with a 72-64 win.


Sailing past Longwood's Amari Jordan, St. Joseph-Ogden's Jack Cook goes up for a shot in the first half of their SJO Toyota of Danville Classic basketball game on Friday. Cook, who hit 5 of his 6 free throw attempts, lead all scorers with 33 points. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)



Entering their annual tournament at just 2-4, the victory was a confidence booster for the SJO basketball team who have the talent and depth, but are off to a ragged start this season.

"We did some good things in the first half," said head coach Kiel Duval praising his team's effort early in the game. "In the second half we struggled a little bit, turned the ball over and we didn't rebound at all."

He pointed out that his guards are learning to grow into their role on the court. Duval and every player on the roster know they have a lot to work on before postseason play in February. Rebounding and doing it aggressively will be a priority on the SJO's to-do list.

"We've got to learn to finish well," explained Duval, now seven games into his head coaching career. "We didn't screen out and gave them (Longwood) extra opportunities. We gave them too many extra possessions."

Spartan senior Jack Cook led the way in scoring for his team with 33 points. The game-high performance was 5 points shy of his career-high 38 points against Heritage last season.

From his perspective, the victory was a confidence booster and one step toward the team's goal of getting their record out of the red.

"This is a big win for us. We are trying to get above .500 by the end of the tournament," Cook said. "It's a big come back (for us) after playing so bad last week."

Cook scored on five of six attempts from the charity stripe.

SJO also received double digit scoring from two other seniors. After a silent second quarter, Joel Orcutt scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half. Keanen Swanson chipped in 10 points.

Longwood also had three players in double figures. Damari Fonza scored a team-high 19 points for the Panthers. Senior Nurell Lacey added 15 points and Marshawn Holliday rounded out top three scorers with 10 points.

Both teams will play two tournament games on Saturday.

Longwood will face Armstrong-Potomac at 10am and finish out their day going head-to-head with the Timberwolves of Cissna Park at 4pm.

Meanwhile, the Spartans Saturday SJO Toyota of Danville Classic campaign starts at 1pm against the Oakwood Comets and will conclude in showdown against Schlarman.


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