HAMLER — There were no rain clouds were in the sky Thursday but Defiance conjured up a some two-out thunder to defeat Bath, 7-0, in a Division II District semifinal game at Garrold Parrott Field.
The Bulldogs now advance to the district finals against Bowling Green 1 p.m. Saturday.
The majority of the damage Defiance did offensively came from the bottom of the order and with two outs. The sixth through nine hitters were responsible for four of the seven runs, four hits and five RBI.
In the second inning, the Bulldogs scratched out two runs with the big shot coming from the No. 8 hitter, Bryce Burton, who laced an RBI double.
The Bulldogs added five more runs the following inning and it was another two-out double doing the most damage. With the bases loaded, No. 9 hitter Emilio Gonzales hit a ball to the opposite field that just landed fair and out of the reach of rightfielder Jordan Barens’ glove to clear the bases.
“What was really nice was the bottom of the order was able to do it, and all the runs came with two outs. That is how you win tournament games,” Defiance head coach Tom Held said.
Bath head coach Brian Jesko said the five-run fifth made a close game turn into an uphill battle that the Wildcats would not be able to overcome.
“They got timely hits with an 0-2 count,” Jesko said. “Their batters got pitches to hit and found some green. You have to tip your hat to them. This was our worst game of the year. It just wasn’t our day today.”
In addition to its timely hitting, Defiance got stellar performances from the pitching pair of Shay Smiddy and Abe Smith.
The Defiance duo silenced the Wildcat bats to just three hits. Smiddy, who no-hit the Wildcats earlier this year, allowed just one hit over four innings of work while fanning three and walking none. He did hit one batter. Pitching the last three innings and completely shuting down the Wildcats’ offense, Smith faced just 10 batters in three innings of work. The lone runner to reach came on an error.
Bath came out aggressive at the plate in the first inning, and this strategy appeared to work when Barens doubled into the left-field gap. However, the two-bagger did little to phase Smiddy who made easy work of the the next Wildcat batter and then cruised through the next two frames.
Bath’s biggest threat to score a run came in the fourth inning when Cam Clark shot a single up the middle followed by double from Ryan Gossard. But then Smiddy induced a ground out to a drawn in infield for the first out and then struck out Gavin Sullivan looking with a breaking ball for the final out of the frame.
“I don’t think we had bad swings or bad at-bats but when you are down seven against an established team like they are it’s hard to comeback,” Jesko said.
Starter Andrew Renner for Bath, lasted just two and two-thirds inning after giving up the base-clearing double in the third inning. Logan Magrum and Cam Clark both did admirable jobs in relief, holding the Bulldogs in check for the final three innings.
“Bryce getting that first hit to score the first run off him (Andrew Renner), that kind of opened the door for us,” Held said. “Emilio Gonzales got the exclamation point for us which helped us get Shay Smiddy out there.
Smiddy is available to pitch six innings for Defiance on Saturday.
For Bath the season comes to the end with a record of 19-6 and a tremendous four-year run for the six Wildcat seniors.
“This team from a program perspective had given us some good memories,” Jesko said. “Making regionals last year and coming up with 19 wins this year is a pretty big accomplishment.
Bowling Green 11,
Wapakoneta 0
Bowling Green’s Jack Schaller fired a no-hitter to help propel the Bobcats to an 11-0 victory over Wapakoneta.
The Bobcat ace fanned eight batters and walked three. In the first four innings Schaller faced just 14 batters. Only twice did a Redskin make it into scoring position .
“I felt today we got beat by a really good pitcher,” Redskin head coach Jason Brandt said. “He was ready to go. We didn’t have our best pitching. We didn’t have our best hitting. We didn’t have our best pitching and we didn’t have our best defense. Not a great day to do those things but that is baseball.”
Bowling Green head coach Bob Schultz described Schaller as a Bulldog.
“Every time he steps on the mound we feel we have the opportunity to win, and to be able to throw a no-no in districts semis is something,” Schultz said. “Today his fastball and change-up were working but his curve ball wasn’t so good but he got enough pitches, enough stamina and enough power to get the job done.”
Bowling Green provided more than enough offense to carry the Bobcats to victory by pounding out 13 hits.
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