North Shore's Johnson has his day in the sun

Cody Johnson doesn't like to pitch in cold weather. So when he saw that the forecast for Monday called for temperatures in the mid-80s, Johnson looked forward to his start.

The Fordham-bound North Shore righthander, who had pitched well in his first two starts in cold weather, went the distance for the first time Monday. He threw a three-hitter, allowed no earned runs, struck out seven and walked five in a 10-3 road win over Valley Stream North in a Nassau Conference A-V/VI baseball crossover.

"I love warm weather," Johnson said. "I wish I could be down South, but I'll take what I can get here. It usually takes me longer to warm up in the cold. I felt good in the first inning. My fastball was popping. That was the hardest I threw all season."

Johnson improved to 3-0 and didn't allow a runner to reach third base until the sixth inning.

"He had great stuff," North Shore coach Dominic Gatti said. "He was throwing pretty hard and he had a good curveball that kept them off-balance. He's been like this for the last two years."

Liam Joyce went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Timmy Aughavin was 3-for-4 with three runs and three stolen bases and Tim Maxwell went 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs and an RBI to lead North Shore (6-0, 6-0).

Jeff Lantigua had all three hits for VSN (5-3, 4-2).

SEE PHOTOSNorth Shore 10, Valley Stream North 3

Kenny Daley led off the game with a walk, and after two errors loaded the bases, Joyce singled home two runs and scored on a single by Maxwell for a 3-0 lead. North Shore put the game away with a five-run seventh, highlighted by an RBI single by Joyce and a two-run single by Nicky Daley. North Shore is averaging 9.3 runs per game.

"We are all swinging hot bats," Joyce said. "I am just locked in. It's my senior year and I want to step up. Right now, we're just mashing. There's great chemistry and we're getting timely hitting."

North Shore is hot. Just the way Johnson likes it.