Baseball Recap: North Johnston Sets Scoring Season-High Against Eastern Wayne

Panthers

Team Score (Highest)

03/27/25 @ Eastern Wayne	34
03/25/25 @ Goldsboro	23
03/14/25 @ Neuse Charter	14
03/19/25 @ Franklin Academy	12
03/18/25 vs Spring Creek	11

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask North Johnston). They never let the Eastern Wayne Warriors get on the board and left with a 34-0 win on Thursday. The victory continues a trend for the Panthers in their matchups with the Warriors: they've now won five in a row.

Reid Willoughby was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 14 over five innings pitched. Those 14 strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in four of his six plate appearances.

In other batting news, Seth Scott and Tyler Coates did most of the damage at the plate: Scott got on base in five of his six plate appearances with seven RBI, four runs, and two triples, while Coates went 4-for-5 with one home run, four runs, and five RBI. That's the most runs Scott has posted since back in May of 2024. Cooper Hall was another key player, going 2-for-5 with five RBI, three runs, and one triple.

North Johnston kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 22 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 5.5 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 13.4.

North Johnston's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-3. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 20.8 runs over those games. As for Eastern Wayne, they are on a 12-game losing streak (dating back to last season) that has dropped them down to 0-8.

We've got plenty of inter-conference action coming up soon. North Johnston is set to square off against their familiar foe Princeton at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (North Johnston 2.7, Princeton 2.7) so any runs scored will be well earned. Meanwhile, Eastern Wayne will take on rival Goldsboro at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.