Tyler Johnston walked towards the mound, with the ball in his right-hand. Pitching in close games and producing the big play for Wilson is what he likes most, even if nerves came with it.
Johnston was well aware of what he and the Lakemen were on the cusp of accomplishing, holding onto a two-run lead going to the bottom of the seventh. The Class C championship game against Gowanda marked Johnston’s third start in five days.
But instead of letting his own nerves get in his way, Johnston created his own good vibes to help him manage the stress of the postseason. Taking a technique he learned from travel baseball, Johnston relied on his focus point, the ‘W’ logo on his black Wilson-branded glove, to stay focused.
As a result, Johnston threw his seventh complete game of the season and struck out 12 batters of the season to lead fifth-seeded Wilson to a 3-1 win over the No. 2 Panthers Sunday in Jamestown.
“It was definitely, obviously, nerve-wracking, just having to pitch every single game, but I just kind of turned those nerves into good energy for myself and just fed off that,” Johnston said. “… I mean, it’s definitely helped a lot. It’s just, anytime I’m in a tough situation, this focus point helps me just calm down and just stay to myself.”
Helping win the sectional title was the latest of Johnston’s feats in the past month. Against Albion on May 3, the Niagara commit recorded his 300th career strikeout, and, three days later, threw the third perfect game in sectional history since 1973 when Wilson played Barker.
Then, in the postseason, Johnston broke the career strikeout record of 347 set by Roy-Hart’s Thomas Russo III last year when he retired 14 in five innings of work on 54 pitches against Holland Tuesday in a Class C quarterfinal. Two days later, Johnston threw a complete game on 89 pitches along with 10 strikeouts to help the Lakemen knock off top-seeded Frewsburg in a Class C semifinal.
Johnston, who is now the section’s leader in career strikeouts (370) and single-season strikeouts (148) originally wasn’t scheduled to throw in the Class C championship game. Had it been played on the original date of Saturday, Wilson was set to send Conner Ernest to the mound and face the Panthers.
Johnston had thrown in three contests in a seven-day week twice during the regular season. But, the five-day span during the postseason was the closest turnaround time for Johnston since throwing in back-to-back contests twice last year.
But, no matter how short an outing or how quick the turnaround is, Johnston has a plan in mind to keep his arm healthy deep into the season. Johnston uses the “Arm Care” program, which he learned from his time playing for the Thunderwolves travel baseball program the last two years.
The program features workouts, such as hollow holds, planks and arm circles with a baseball in each hand, with two 30-second repetitions. The workouts are intended to help keep the arms of pitchers, like Johnston, healthy and limit injury during school and travel seasons.
“I just keep it the same exact way just because my pitching coaches at Thunderwolves are very smart,” Johnston said. “And they really care about keeping your arm healthy.”
What’s kept Johnston available in such a tight window of a postseason schedule is his production when on the mound. Through three postseason games, the junior has allowed only one run — and four all season — with 81.2% of his pitches called for strike.
Johnston has also retired the side nine times in the postseason, including four times against Holland. And, Johnston has completed an inning in 10 pitches or fewer eight times.
“He is so efficient,” Wilson head coach Bill Atlas said. “He has not been throwing a ton of pitches. I wouldn’t be able to do this if he was wild because he’d be up to about 120 pitches and he would have had to have at least been out of one of those games. … HIs arm is strong as ever.”
Wilson (14-7) plays Section V’s Letchworth or Bolivar-Richburg in the Class C Far West Regional at 7 p.m. Friday at Salamanca High School.