Baseball: Johnson out for season
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Editor
Pitcher Grant Johnson was one of the biggest reasons why Notre Dame's baseball team reached the College World Series last season. But this season, the Irish will need someone else to help lead them back to Omaha.
Johnson underwent shoulder surgery Dec. 30 and will not pitch for Notre Dame during the upcoming season. He will be in a sling for four more weeks before starting to throw lightly for the rest of the season.
Doctors did say the sophomore should make a full recovery from the setback.
"My first and foremost feelings are for Grant. My heart is broken for the kid," Irish coach Paul Mainieri said. "Talking to our medical people, I am absolutely so confident that he'll be able to make a full recovery and not only a full recovery but return to pitching at the level that he's use to, if not better."
Johnson said he is looking at his situation as something that can be overcome.
"You just have to look at it as one of those things that's just a setback," Johnson said. "It's not one of those things that's going to be a career-ending thing."
Johnson was named a Preseason All-American and Preseason Big East Conference pitcher of the year by College Baseball magazine. He was supposed to anchor an Irish pitching staff that returned almost everyone from last year.
"[Last season] he was one of the top pitchers in the entire country," Mainieri said. "What he did last year for us was nothing short of remarkable. So it's a big blow to us, but it's not a devastating blow."
Mainieri knows that his team has faced injuries in the past, particularly last season when the Irish lost several key players. That experience with adversity should help Notre Dame maintain its excellence again this season.
"We've had a lot of experience with having these type of challenges happen to our team," Mainieri said. "So I would hope and really believe our players will respond in the same fashion they've responded every time before … [I expect] another teammate will step in and take advantage of the opportunity and show what he is capable of doing."
As a freshman last seasons, Johnson finished the year with 9-5 record, a 3.46 ERA and had 86 strikeouts. He also started Notre Dame's opening game against Stanford in the World Series.
Johnson said he believes the team will respond in a positive manner to his injury.
"Last year a lot of people got injured and a lot of us were able to step up and play an important role on the team," Johnson said. "People are going to step in my position and we'll be fine like last year and I have no doubt we'll do just as well as we did last year."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 15, 2003
