Derek Turner tossed a one-hit shutout at Fairview on Monday to lead Defiance to a 10-0 five-inning victory over the Apaches at Booster Field.

"It was very important for Derek to eat up some innings like he did. We've played a lot of games, and he was just outstanding," said DHS skipper Tom Held. "I thought Fairview had a very good approach against him, but Derek was really in control of his pitches. He gave us a great effort."

Defiance (15-0, No. 1 Division II, Prep Baseball Report, OHSBCA poll) scored four runs in the bottom of the first to put the Apaches (4-6) in an early hole.

Austin Hancock reached on an error to open the game before moving to second with a steal. Dom Gentile walked and Hancock stole third, followed by a steal of second by Gentile. Rob Zeigler then stepped to the plate and hit a two-run double to put the home team on the board.

With one out, an Adam Schaffer RBI single plated Zeigler before Schaffer moved to second on a steal. Austin Yant drove home the fourth run with a single to left that scored Schaffer and the Bulldogs were off and running.

"We took advantage of an error and some stolen bases before Robbie hit a missile," said Held. "That really got us going that inning and really for the whole game. I thought overall we just really executed well offensively. We scored twice on a pair of hit-and-runs, we sacrificed runners and we bunted for hits. I thought our approach was very good."

Fairview coach Andy Singer was impressed.

"Defiance is solid as usual," noted Singer. "There is no doubt they are playing very good baseball."

Zeigler finished with a pair of singles, a double and three RBIs to lead Defiance.

Turner finished with three strikeouts and four walks in picking his second win of the season.

"I was proud of the way our kids battled at the plate against Turner, who was throwing 85-86 consistently," Singer said. "We had three strikeouts so we put the ball in play. They just made the defensive plays."

Tyler Nusbaum had the only hit for Fairview with a single.

"We have a lot of youth but every day they get a little stronger, more confident and learn the game of baseball," Singer said. "We hope we can build on this and even with a loss we can find things that we need to do better and also look at what the other team did well so we can try to emulate that.

"We want to hit our peak come tourney time and right now we are making steps to get there. May they be little ones, they are still going in the right direction."

Defiance returns to action today when it hosts St. Marys in Western Buckeye League action while Fairview puts its 2-0 Green Meadows Conference mark on the line at Holgate.

Linescore

Fairview 000 00 - 0 1 3

Defiance 421 21 - 10 10 1

Records: Defiance 15-0, Fairview 4-5.

Winning pitcher: Derek Turner (5 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts, 4 walks).

Losing pitcher: Kyle Thomas (1 2/3 innings, 6 runs, 6 hits, 1 strikeout, 2 walks). Others: Tucker O'Neil, Cole Dockery.

Leading hitters: (Fairview, 1 hit). (Defiance, 10 hits) - Rob Zeigler 2 singles, double, 3 RBI: Derek Turner 2 singles.