Kidston's HR edges Shawnee

SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP – For a second, he thought about bunting. But Defiance was glad Anthony Kidston changed his mind.

Kidston produced the only run in a 1-0 Defiance win over Shawnee in a Western Buckeye League baseball game with a home run leading off the top of the seventh inning.

Kidston’s blast to right-center field was about the only offense by either team on a day when Shawnee’s Trey Runneals and two Defiance pitchers allowed a total of only five hits.

That’s why Kidston considered doing whatever it took to get on base.

"I was thinking about going up there and laying down a bunt to begin with. That kid threw a heck of a game," Kidston said. "But I got a curve on the outside of the plate and decided to go with it to right field."

Runneals struck out five, didn’t walk a batter an allowed three hits. Defiance starter Kurt Belau had seven strikeouts, one walk and gave up two hits. Kidston pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and retired five straight batters.

Defiance (13-1, 6-0 Western Buckeye League) extended its WBL winning streak to 47 games. The last time the Bulldogs lost a league game was in 2006 against Elida.

Shawnee (8-8, 3-3 WBL) had two early chances to take the lead, but Belau got out of trouble. In the first inning, Clint Spencer walked to lead off the game and stole second base, but stayed there. The next inning, Bruce Roberts hit a leadoff double and was at third base with one out, but couldn’t get any farther.

In the sixth inning, Sam Altenbach led off with a bunt single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Spencer. But Kidston came on to shut down the Indians the rest of the way.

"We tried to steal and bunt to get into a spot where a timely base hit would make a difference because when you’ve got quality pitchers like our kid and their two pitchers, one run will do it," Shawnee coach Chad Spencer said.

"We’re not a huge hit team, not a home run team. Our hopes are to get somebody on second base or third base and try to get something. We didn’t get that done tonight, we didn’t come up with a big hit at a critical moment.

"Trey did a great job tonight. I thought he had a masterful performance," the Shawnee coach said. "My hat is way off to that kid. If he didn’t out-pitch their kids, he was right there with them."

Defiance coach Tom Held said bringing in Kidston to finish the game was his plan even before Shawnee got a base runner in the sixth.

"Not only did he come up with a big hit, he came up with getting two outs with a guy in scoring position in the sixth," he said about Kidston.

"We knew once we got to about the fifth inning, we were hoping we could get a lead. And if we got a lead, we would close with Anthony. We kind of made a decision that if they got a guy to second base in the sixth, we were bringing Anthony in."

"Kurt pitched a heck of a game but Anthony is still our ace," Held said about his junior right-hander, who has verbally committed to Louisville.