Keon Johnson named to All-Mid-Major Madness Third Team
Winthrop senior guard Keon Johnson added one more postseason award to his resume when he was named to the All-Mid-Major Madness Third Team.
Johnson was joined on the third team by Evan Bradds (Belmont), Przemek Karnowski (Gonzaga), Tim Kempton (Lehigh), and Marcus Marshall (Nevada).
This season, Johnson turned in one of the best not only in the history of the program, but in the history of the Big South Conference. He was named to the All-Big South First Team and was named the Big South Conference Player of the Year after averaging a career-high 22.3 points per game while breaking league and program records along the way.
Johnson became the school’s all-time leading scorer and first 2,000 point scorer as he finishes his career ranked 7th all-time in Big South history with 2,076 points. Johnson scored 17 points against Butler in the NCAA Tournament, his final game as an Eagle. He also became the all-time leader at Winthrop and the Big South with 517 free throws made as well as becoming Winthrop’s all-time leader in three-point field goals.
On Mar. 29, Johnson became just the second player in program history to be an AP All-America Selection (Honorable Mention). His 22.3 ppg finished 11th in the country and he was 19th in three-point field goals made per game.
Baseball
Winthrop’s baseball team erased a lopsided loss a month ago by holding The Citadel to just four hits in a 6-4 victory Tuesday night at The Winthrop Ballpark.
The Eagles took advantage of two fielding errors by the Bulldogs in the sixth inning to take a 5-4 lead and then added an insurance run in the eighth to take a 6-4 lead into the top of the ninth. Junior right hander Daniel Wilcutt, who came on in relief of starter Zach Peek in the third inning, finished the game to earn his first collegiate victory and improve to 1-0. Bulldog reliever Thomas Byelick suffered the loss and his record drops to 0-3.
The win snapped a three-game skid for the Eagles and improves their overall record tot 17-16 while The Citadel is now 10-20. Wilcutt pitched 6.1 innings and allowed a run on two hits. Peek gave up three runs on a pair of hits, including a home run by Sabo.
Winthrop spotted The Citadel a 3-0 lead after three innings. Jonathan Sabo accounted for two of the runs with a 2-run HR in the third. The Eagles scored single runs in the fourth and fifth while the Bulldogs added a run in the top of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead.
Winthrop scored three times in the sixth. It started when Hunter Lipscomb was hit by a pitch to open the inning. Tyler Halstead and Brandon Fite delivered back-to-back one-out singles to load the bases. Jake Sullivan’s grounder to second was mishandled and two runs scored to tie the game. Matthew Mulkey, the next batter up, then reached on an error by the third baseman that allowed Fite to score with the go ahead run.
Grant English delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to give the Eagles a two-run cushion.
Softball
Winthrop softball dropped both games of a doubleheader 6-0 and 5-2 to Furman on Tuesday in non-conference action at Terry Field.
“We’ve struggled lately scoring runs and making plays,” said Winthrop co-head coach Mark Cooke. “The first game we weren’t that sharp and the second game we finally looked like us a little bit. Keleigh (Romine) threw one bad pitch they hit a grand slam off of it, but the rest of the time we played liked we can play. This is a good recovery I hope going into Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern. I almost thought they were demoralized after Campbell so I’m thinking in the second game we got a little bit of our fire back. Hate to lose, but I felt a little better after the second game.”
In the second game, the Eagles, 20-22 overall, pushed two across in the third inning to grab a 2-0 lead. Winthrop loaded the bases with no outs as Maddie Antone drove home the first run on a sacrifice fly, and Ashley Westbrooks came through with an RBI single.
Keleigh Romine controlled the Furman bats for 5.2 innings, allowing just one hit before running into trouble in the top of the sixth with two outs. Furman started it with back-to-back two-out singles followed by a walk to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Taylor Vahle singled to left to make it 2-1 and then Emma Ogburn stepped in and took a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left for a grand slam and a 5-2 lead.
Romine finished the day allowing all five runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts as she falls to 3-6 on the year. The Eagles had 10 hits in the game led by Ansley Gilreath’s career-best three hits. Morgan Lowers and Westbrooks each had two hits.
Furman, 21-16 overall, powered its way to a win in the first game. Carolina Cash led off the third inning with a solo home run and then AnnaRose Borrelli hit a solo home run in the fifth for a 3-0 lead. Candace Johnson hit a three-run shot to center in the sixth to double the lead for the Paladins.
The Eagles had three hits. Winthrop’s Kiley Majette took the loss after allowing two runs on five hits in four innings as she walked one and struck out three.
Winthrop travels to Boiling Springs, N.C., for a single-game at Gardner-Webb at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Keon Johnson named to All-Mid-Major Madness Third Team."