And the Western Buckeye League win streak continues.
Defiance, the No. 2 ranked team in the state in Division II in the OHSBCA state poll, broke open a close game late to defeat Van Wert 7-0 and move to a perfect 5-0 in the WBL.
The victory was the 55th straight in league play for the Bulldogs (18-1), who got a three-hit pitching performance by Rob Zeigler in the win.
Zeigler, a junior righty who improved to 6-1, got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning before settling in to take care of the Cougars (10-13, 3-5 WBL).
Meanwhile, it was a big RBI double by senior shortstop Jacob Moore that got the offense going against Van Wert lefty Joe Hurless, who was tough on DHS batters.
"Rob is a pitcher that gets better as the game goes on ... you just hope it doesn't come back to haunt him at some point," stated Defiance mentor Tom Held about Zeigler's 13 K, three walk performance. "He definitely got better as the game went on, he threw his hardest in the seventh inning. Rob is still a work in progress, he's still a pup, but in the end his numbers show he had a very good outing."
Van Wert coach Charlie Witten admitted that his team missed a big opportunity to take the lead on the road against the Bulldogs in the second inning. After the Cougars loaded the bases with nobody out, Zeigler struck out Terin Contreras, Aaron McClellan and Nathan Stoller in order to end the threat.
"We swung at some high pitches ... we just had some bat at-bats there and we'd like to have those back obviously," said Witten. "After that Zeigler settled down and got the job done on the mound for them. Give him credit for closing the door on us there."
Once Van Wert got the bases loaded, it was all about focus according to Zeigler.
"I just had to bear down and throw strikes," said Zeigler. "Coach Held came out to talk to me and he told me I had to compete and get after it. After that, I forget about everything else, started throwing strikes and I felt pretty comfortable after that."
While Zeigler kept Van Wert scorless, Hurless was doing the same to the Bulldogs. That is until the bottom of the fourth inning.
Zeigler walked to start the fourth, before being lifted for pinch-runner Taylor Cooper.
After Cooper stole second, Nic Vittorio coaxed a full-count walk. In stepped Moore, who hit a fly that was tailing toward the line in right field. Van Wert right fielder Tyler Williams made a diving attempt on the ball, but it was just out of his reach. Cooper scored easily from second, but Vittorio was thrown out trying to score from first as Moore scampered into third. The DHS shortstop scored on a wild pitch to give the home team a 2-0 lead.
"Hurless had struggled with the two guys before me, and I was able to work the count and get ahead," said Moore. "I was sitting fastball, I was just looking to drive a ball anywhere and get the first run in, I got the fastball and I put a good swing on it."
The Bulldogs added a big run the next inning, when Austin Hancock singled home Dom Gentile after falling behind 0-2 in the count against Hurless. The Bulldogs then broke the game open with four runs in the sixth off reliever Brandt Henry to secure the 7-0 win.
"Our top didn't swing it well tonight, but you're going to have games like that," Held said. "When we have games like that, so guys in the bottom of the order like J-Boy (Moore) and Austin need to do what they did. "J-Boy has been big in situations like that all year long, and I was very pleased with Austin. He's starting to see the ball better."
The Bulldogs will host Wauseon on Saturday at 1 p.m. (weather permitting) before coming back to Booster Field to host Lima Shawnee in an important WBL tilt Tuesday.
"It's good to be home for most of these WBL games down the stretch (Defiance plays three of its last four league games at Booster Field)," concluded Held. "I thought early on we might need to bring in AK (senior righty Anthony Kidston), but Robbie settled down and got the job done. Now we'll have Anthony for Shawnee and be ready to go."
Zeigler finished with a single and double to lead DHS, while Moore had a double, two RBI and a pair of runs scored.