06/27/24 – Ethan S. Smith
The Johnstown Mill Rats pitching staff blanked the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp offense,
allowing just six hits en route to a 5-0 victory in under two hours at Sargent’s Stadium on
Thursday night.
Johnstown starting pitcher George Henkel had a strong evening, pitching five innings
without allowing a run while striking out two. It was the second consecutive evening that a Mill
Rats starting pitcher held the Pistol Shrimp scoreless through five innings.
Henkel was relieved by right-hander Conor Thiele, who threw a scoreless inning in his
second straight evening of work.
Relief pitchers, right-hander Liam Royster and left-hander Mac Yarbrough, finished the
game for the Mill Rats, combining for two scoreless innings of work.
The Johnstown offense found success versus Illinois Valley starting pitcher Daniel
Strohm, scoring four runs on six hits in his four innings of work. Strohm ended his outing with
seven strikeouts.
Johnstown center fielder Max Humphrey, who was 1-for-4 on the evening, kicked off the
scoring with a two-run home run over the left-center field wall off Strohm in the bottom of the
third. Left fielder Austin Stalker(1-for-3) and catcher Chance Satcho(1-for-3) extended the Mill
Rats lead to four in the bottom of the fourth as each collected an RBI single.
Second baseman Dom Krupinski(2-for-4) added an RBI-single in the fifth to extend the
lead to five for the Mill Rats.
Despite the scoreless outing from the Illinois Valley offense, third baseman Ryan
Niedzwiedz had a 2-for-4 evening, being the only Pistol Shrimp player in the lineup with multiple
hits.
The win was the second straight for the Mill Rats, who improved to 12-14. Meanwhile,
the Pistol Shrimp dropped to 16-9.
Johnstown will look to sweep Illinois Valley in the series finale on Friday.