WAPAKONETA — For nearly 11 months, Rob Zeigler of Defiance has had the Redskins of Wapakoneta on his mind. After suffering the loss in Defiance’s 6-1 setback to Wapak in the Division II regional championship game last May, Zeigler made a sign to remind himself during the offeseason why he needed to work so hard for the 2013 campaign.
On Friday at Wapakoneta, the senior righty took a perfect game into the fifth inning, before settling on a two-hit shutout that powered the Bulldogs to a 1-0 win over the Redskins in a key Western Buckeye League contest.
The victory kept Zeigler (4-0) and No. 1-ranked Defiance (12-0, 3-0 WBL) perfect, while pushing the Bulldogs’ WBL win streak to an incredible 62 games.
“What a great pitchers’ duel today between Robbie and Johnny Crawford, that was good old-fashioned baseball with great defense mixed in,” began Defiance mentor Tom Held. “We’ve had some good games in the WBL and we’ve had some great ones (pitchers) at Defiance, but, and this is tough for me say ... but that single-handedly, against a state runner-up team that had all its starters back, that was the best pitching performance at Defiance High School during my time. What an unbelievable performance by Robbie.”
Zeigler, who finished with 14 strikeouts and two walks in the narrow win, admitted that he was ready to pitch from the time he got out of bed in the morning.
“I was on a mission, from the moment I woke up I was ready to go,” said Zeigler about pitching against Wapakoneta. “Losing to them 6-1 in the regional finals last year, them finishing as state runners-up, I just really, really wanted to win. All offseason, every time I went to throw, to hit, to rep ... every time I worked on anything, I looked at that sign, remembered that loss and used it as motivation.”
The 6-4, 205-pound hurler and University of Kentucky signee, had an over-powering fastball that reached 92 miles per hour on Friday, but his knee-buckling curveball was the pitch that kept the Redskins (9-5, 2-2 WBL) off-balance all game long.
“Rob Zeigler was excellent today, he had command of a plus-plus fastball and his curveball was right there with it,” commented Wapakoneta coach Jason Brandt. “The first three innings we were jumping into the box and letting him find his groove and work at his pace, and I give him all the credit for that. But, my guys battled from the first inning until the seventh, and to me, that was a great, great high school baseball game.”
The Bulldogs got what proved to be all the offense it needed in the second inning against Wapak senior lefty Johnny Crawford, who was almost as outstanding as Zeigler.
In the top of the second, Derek Turner singled to start the frame, before moving to second on a passed ball. A bunt single toward third off the bat of Adam Schaffer allowed Turner to reach third. When DH Austin Yant reached on a full-count walk, the Bulldogs had the bases loaded with no outs.
Senior left-fielder Dom Romero stepped in and delivered a slow roller to Wapakoneta second baseman Alex Koch, whose only play was to first base. That allowed Turner to score and Schaffer and Yant to move up 90 feet. From there, Crawford got Joe Keween to foul out and Drake Jimenez to fly out to right to end the threat.
“Good pitchers, you have to get to early, and we had Johnny on the ropes in the first two or three innings, but we couldn’t get that big hit,” said Held. “We had bases loaded with nobody down, good thing we got the one it, but again, we couldn’t get that big hit. You have to credit Johnny Crawford, what an athlete and what a competitor.”
Brandt also knew that he got a great performance out of his senior southpaw.
“Johnny, in my opinion, matched Rob pitch-for-pitch,” Brandt said. He gave up a few more hits and had a few more walks, but to Johnny’s credit, once guys got on base, he kept them there. When they had the bases loaded, we could have had our infield in, but the bottom line is we still needed to score a run. We gave up a run for an out, but the ball was hit hard enough for us to turn two. But again, all the credit goes to Johnny for his performance out there today, he did all he could to keep them off the board.”
Zeigler carried a perfect game into the fifth inning before A.J. Etzkorn broke it up with a single to right field. In the bottom of the seventh, Wapak got two runners on via a double by Andrew Hines with one out and and a two-outwalk to Etzkorn, but, Zeigler struck out Brandon Miller to finish off the pressure-filled 1-0 victory for the ‘Dogs.
“It takes a little bit of pressure off getting the win today, but we’ve got to keep working and keep moving forward,” concluded Zeigler. “It was a good win, but we’re not going to celebrate, there’s a lot more baseball to play.”
Defiance returns to action on Saturday at Delta at 11 a.m. and at Southview at 3 p.m.

                                        Linescore
Defiance          010  000  0  -  2  4  0
Wapakoneta    000  000  0  -  0  2  0
Records: Defiance 12-0 (3-0 WBL), Wapakoneta 9-5 (2-2 WBL).
Winning pitcher: Rob Zeigler (7 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits 14 strikeouts, 2 walks).
Losing pitcher: Johnny Crawford (7 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 3 strikeouts, 5 walks).
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 4 hits) - Austin Yant double. (Wapakoneta, 2 hits) - Andrew Hines double.