Behind the pitching of Weston Rivers, Defiance ran its record to a perfect 7-0 following a 6-1 victory over Parkway in baseball action on Monday at Defiance's Booster Field.

Rivers scattered two hits in five innings of work, struck out nine and walked none to improve to 3-0 on the season.

"Weston has had a little tenderness in his shoulder, but he was able to get out and long toss on Sunday which helped him tremendously," stated Defiance mentor Tom Held. "He came out and controlled the strike zone with his fastball and got people out. He's come a long way since his junior year, and has now strung together some very good outings."

The Bulldogs (No. 1, Division II, Prep Baseball Report) were held to just five hits in the win, but were able to take advantage of nine stolen bases, including five from Dom Gentile.

"Dom moved back into the two-hole for us tonight and made things happen," said Held. "He got a bunt hit, he doubled and when he got on he was able to steal five bases. If he can win a job at the top of the order, he can really help us."

The home team scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first to grab a 2-0 lead. Austin Hancock led off with a single, stole second and took third on a bunt single by Gentile. Robert Zeigler was hit by a pitch to load the bases, before Derek Turner hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Hancock. Gentile took third on a steal, before scoring on a fielder's choice off the bat of Austin Yant for Defiance second run.

The Bulldogs broke out in front 4-0 in the third when Gentile hit a double, stole third and scored on a wild pitch to Turner. Zeigler, who walked and stole second a batter before Turner, advanced to third on the wild pitch. Wade Verhoff then drove home Zeigler with a sac fly to center.

"We took advantage of our base running today, no question," said Held. "We had a couple of sacrifice flies, we scored a couple of runs on grounders for outs ... our guys just really had some quality at-bats in crucial situations. I think overall we played pretty well considering we hadn't played since last Tuesday."

Defiance returns to action today at Lima Bath in a Western Buckeye League encounter, weather permitting, at 5 p.m.

Linescore

Parkway 000 001 0 - 1 4 4

Defiance 202 020 x - 6 5 1

Records: Defiance 7-0, Parkway 4-4.

Winning pitcher: Weston Rivers (5 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 9 strikeouts, 0 walks). Others: Mazen Kanouh, Derek Turner.

Losing pitcher: Porteler (4 1/3 innings, 6 runs, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks). Other: Felver.

Leading hitters: (Parkway, 4 hits) - O'Neill 2 singles. (Defiance, 5 hits) - Dom Gentile single, double; Robert Ziegler double.