This article was taken from the Tri County Sunday. Baseball Factory congratulates Hayden Johnston, a member of the Exclusive Program and two time Preseason Baseball Factory All American, on being named Player of the Year.

Clarion-Limestone junior shortstop Hayden Johnston and coach Brad Frazier earned the 2004 Tri-County Sunday/Courier-Express All-Star Team Player and Coach of the Year honors, thanks to leadership that led the Lions to unprecedented success this season.

C-L became the first team in either Class A or AA to win a third straight District 9 championship and finally managed to take a victory in a PIAA playoff contest. 

For Frazier, it was the third straight championship game for his C-L squad.

The Lions advanced into the second round after Johnston pitched his Lions to a 4-2 win over Mt. Union in the first round of the PIAA playoffs.  C-L eventually lost a 3-2 decision to Carmichaels in the second round.

Frazier coached the Lions to a 16-6 record this season, which is quite a feat after the Lions lost top pitching ace and last year’s Player of the Year Rocky Davis and TCS/C-E first team baseman Jordan Johnston. 

The Lions went 15-4 last season and 16-3 in 2002 to capture the first two district crowns for the program, which has only been in existence for six seasons.

Johnston was a leader in most offensive categories, including batting average, hits, runs scored, triples and homeruns. He was second in doubles.

He batted .559 through 21 games.  In 68 at-bats he had 38 hits, 25 of which were multiple base hits. Johnston had eight doubles, three triples and 14 home runs.

His 45 RBIs led the Lions by 15 over TCS/C-E first team catcher David Ferguson’s 30. Johnston had an unbelievable slugging percentage of 1.382. He struck out only five times over the season while drawing 13 walks and being hit twice.

Johnston reached base 64 percent of the time and was 4-4 in stolen base attempts.

Although he was selected as a shortstop, pitching was also a strong point for Johnston, who was 7-1 in 11 appearances. He held a 3.44 earned run average in 36.2 innings. He struck out 49 compared to 19 walks. He allowed 15 runs, 15 earned, on 30 hits.

Surrounding Johnston on the TCS/C-E all-star team are pitchers Tim Wright of Ridgway and Shane Reed of Redbank Valley.

Wright’s .500 batting average, 37 hits, 31 runs and 12 home runs placed him just behind Johnston in those categories. He also had two triples and six doubles to help lead the Elkers into the playoffs.

Wright also tied Johnston for the No. 2 spot in victories on the mound with seven, behind Redbank Valley’s Shane Reed, who had eight.

In an area-high 56 innings Wright had 68 strkeouts and a 3.88 ERA.

Reed had an area-high eight wins and struck out 72 in 54 innings and boasted a 2.46 ERA.

The other end of the battery is another Lion, David Ferguson.  Ferguson batted .545 with 36 hits, including seven doubles and four homers.

He knocked in 30 RBIs through the Lions’ run and had a .833 slugging percentage.

Completing the infield are first baseman Blake Osborne of Brookville, second baseman Cody Racchini of Brookville, Johnston and third baseman Cody Eisman of DuBois.

Osborne batted .469 with 23 hits. He had four doubles, two triples and three homers. Racchini hit .395, including five doubles.

Eisman went .424 at the plate with 28 hits, tying Justin Lange for most among the Beavers.  He had two triples and three home runs.

Some heavy hitters occupy the outfield, including DuBois’ Lange, Central Catholic’s Kyle Gorby and Ridgway’s Jason Viglione.

Lange (.452) had 28 hits, including seven home runs, and scored 16 runs.

Gorby hit .418 and led the Cardinals with 18 hits and six home runs.

Viglione batted .500 and was one of the area’s top performers with 35 hits, five doubles, three triples and six homeruns. Viglione was also a top pitcher, racking up 72 stirkeouts in 42.2 innings.

The first team TCS/C-E utility player is Cameron County sophomore Drew Tompkins and the designated hitter is Ridgway freshman Tobias Streich.

Streich did not put up the batting average of many of his competitors, but boasted numbers that were impossible to ignore.

Of his 20 hits, two were triples and eight were home runs – this is, half of Streich’s hits were for three or more bases, an amazing statistic put up by a first-year varsity athlete.

Tompkins hit .486 with 36 hits, including an area-high nine doubles.

He also added four home runs for the Red Raiders.