Jacob Johnson knew he had a chance to blow the game wide open for Wheaton North.

After taking a one-run lead over Geneva earlier in the third inning, the senior came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.

And after getting two quick strikes, he knew he had to change his approach.

“I was just thinking that I wanted to be quick,” Johnson said. “That’s my two-strike approach. I try to stay inside the ball and shoot it opposite-field over the shortstop’s head.”

His next swing did just that, as he hit a bases-clearing double to cap off a five-run third inning for the Falcons, which proved to be the difference in a 5-2 victory to start the three-game series against the Vikings.

“That definitely was the shift in momentum that was needed to give us the edge,” Johnson said. “In the dugout we were up the rest of the game and really energetic, and I think that hit was just a big catalyst for us.”

Johnson’s three-run double was the only hit in the third inning for the Falcons (13-16 overall, 7-9 DuKane). Of the five other base runners the Falcons had in the inning, three got on from walks, one was hit by a pitch, and another reached on an error.

“We really took good at-bats and made their pitcher throw a lot of pitches,” Falcons coach Dan Schoessling said. “We had a lot of traffic on the base paths and just got the big hit at the right time from Jacob, and it was great to see us finally break through.”

The lead was more than enough leverage for senior pitcher Alex Popham, who ended up going the distance on the mound for the Falcons, allowing nine hits and two earned runs while striking out four.

“Going into this we knew that Geneva was a really good team and I was prepared, warmed up well and looked for the win,” Popham said. “It made a world of a difference having our offense pick me up, and it just gave me all the confidence to go out and keep the lead.”

Schoessling said that Popham had his best stuff come when there were runners on base. The senior finished the game stranding eight Vikings runners on base.

“We knew he would give us a good start against these guys,” Schoessling said. “He was hitting his spots, mixing his pitches and did a good job holding runners so they could never get a lot of momentum going in the game. And when they did, he limited the damage.”

Geneva (24-4, 13-3) took the first lead of the day on a RBI single from Gavin Dworak in the bottom of the second. He would add another on a fielder’s choice in the sixth, but the five-run inning proved to be the downfall of the Vikings’ nine-game conference win streak.

“It was just a bad inning,” Vikings coach Brad Wendell said. “We had a chance to limit it but we didn’t turn a ground ball. But I give credit to (Johnson), who hit a two-strike ball hard and cleared the bases in that situation. It was one tough inning and it made the difference, especially since their pitcher did great the whole way.”

Of the Vikings’ nine hits on the day, four of them came from senior Nick Torrence, who had singles in all four of his plate appearances.

“He’s been swinging a hot stick for us,” Wendell said. “He got some innings catching early in the year, but his bat’s really started to play late.”

The Vikings also saw some big innings from their relievers. Matthew Martija faced the minimum nine batters over his three innings of relief, allowing just a walk while striking out three.

“He was extremely sharp out, threw a ton of strikes and got after the batters,” Wendell said. “He managed his pitch count well too, which is great in these three-game series.”