Despite getting limited at-bats for the past four months between the high school and American Legion seasons, Westwood Post 320 right fielder Rob Johnson made sure to make the most of his opportunity in the starting lineup last night.
In his first start in more than a week, the recent Xaverian Brothers graduate was a perfect 4-for-4 at the, scored three times and drove in five from the No. 8 spot in the lineup, helping Westwood throttle Franklin, 13-2, at Xaverian Brothers High. He delivered three two-out RBI singles before doubling o finish off his evening.
Johnson beat out an infield hit to the left side in the second to tie the game at 1-all as Dave Milano crossed the plate. An inning later, he was part of a string in which six consecutive batters to reach safely with a pop single to shallow right that fell between the right fielder, first and second basemen for a 4-1 lead as part of a five-run inning that broke open a tie game, and scored on a single in the hole by T.J. Manning (4-for-4) for a 6-1 advantage.
Fellow bottom third of the order hitters were also in the mix as Greg Homer and Cory Braunstein, who like Johnson was 4-for-4 with five RBI, also had run-scoring singles.
In the fourth, he pushed the lead to 8-1 with a single to right to bring in Jason Sementelli and Milano, who scored four times and had a pair of hits in Post 320’s 17-hit evening.
“By the fourth at-bat I really felt comfortable,” said Johnson, who stroked a double down the right field line that just eluded the diving effort of Franklin right fielder Colin Gay in his final plate appearance. “I improved throughout the game. It was good to get the opportunity, got to be pleased with (the results).”
Homer, Johnson and Braunstein combined to go 10-for-12 with six runs and 11 RBI as Braunstein put a cap on the evening’s scoring with a three-run home run to left in the sixth inning.
“Not making good pitches, we’ve been stressing to them that this isn’t high school where you can get away with that against the bottom of the order,” said Franklin coach Mark D’Angelo, who added that giving up hits against the bottom part of the opponent’s order has been an ongoing issue for his fledgling squad all season.
It also leaves Post 75 on the wrong side of the playoff race heading into a busy final weekend. Franklin is 7-9 with technically six games remaining, but already knowing that one of those games – against Foxboro – will not be made up before Sunday’s deadline.
Westwood improved to 11-8 and inched closer to securing its first District 6 playoffs since 2006 and will have John Sheehan ready to go in Tuesday’s postseason opener with a full compliment of rest following a complete-game victory in which he struck out 12 while allowing just one earned run on four hits with two walks.
Sheehan was touched for a run in the first on a walk and a couple hits, but escaped further trouble getting a line drive double play to end a second-and-third, one-out rally.
He had little trouble the rest of the way and had at least one strikeout in seven of the nine spots in the order.
“It’s our third game with them and we knew they are a good hitting team,” said Sheehan. “(After the first inning) the fastball was low and more in and out instead of down the middle and high.
“It’s good to be on full rest, hope to go out there and go another seven (in the postseason).”
(Keith Pearson is Staff Writer for the Daily News Transcript. He can be reached at (781) 433-8371 or kpearson@cnc.com.)
