Redskins hold off Bulldogs

ST. HENRY - For once, the Celina ACME baseball team hit the ball really well. But the Bulldogs needed more.

Celina put up eight runs on 11 hits but succumbed to a St. Henry team that came out on fire. The Redskins lit up starter Quinn Andrew for nine runs and tacked on two more for insurance in an 11-8 win at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Thursday.

"He was hitting his spots," Celina coach Bryce Monnin said of Andrew. "Hats off to them for hitting the ball. He was throwing in the dirt, they were going down and getting it. He was throwing outside, they were going out and getting it. He didn't know what to do."

Andrew's day ended when the Redskins pulled away for good in the third. St. Henry loaded the bases with one out after a pair of singles and an error, and Bryce Brookhart grounded into a potential double play but just beat the throw to score a run and keep the inning going. Andrew watched another run score thanks to an error on a double steal, then walked Shane Franck and hit Drew Schwieterman with a pitch before Monnin came out to get the ball.

Clayton Everman hit a two-run single off reliever Dylan Feister to make it 9-6 before Feister stopped the bleeding with a strikeout.

"We've been really focusing on two-strike hitting, going with the outside pitch on two strikes," St. Henry coach Tyler Burns said. "We've got to protect, and we've been focusing on no strikeouts looking as well. Anything close, we've got to be putting the ball in play and forcing them to make a play."

Feister gave up a pair of runs in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Franck and Schwieterman, but finished with six strikeouts and was able to limit the damage.

"I think we threw too much off-speed with Quinn," Monnin said. "Dylan came in and realized we've got to blow it by them."

The Bulldogs added a run in the fifth on a single up the middle by left fielder Jack Hassan but left two more stranded, then picked up another on Andrew's bloop single in the sixth. But Andrew was caught stealing, and after two more runners reached, Feister was thrown out trying for home on a botched pickoff.

In the seventh, Celina put a pair of runners on after a walk and a hit-by-pitch to bring the tying run to the plate, but Blayn Aller flew out to centerfield to end the game.

"We're finally hitting the ball," Monnin said. "We're squaring it up and hitting it hard. Still a lot of missed opportunities. I don't know how many guys we left on base, but we left a lot of guys on base."

Redskins starter Devin Delzeith outlasted Andrew by three innings, recovering from a rocky start to hold the Bulldogs in check. He was charged with all eight runs and 11 hits, but did just enough as the Redskins blasted their way to a win.

"He hit the strike zone well, and you've got to give Celina credit, they hit the snot out of the ball," Bruns said. "We've just got to continue making plays on defense and throw strikes, that's all we can ask."

After the Bulldogs drew first blood in the top of the first, St. Henry wasted no time. Clayton Everman hit a line drive deep into the left-center gap for a two-RBI double to put the Redskins up, and with two outs, Nolan Kunkler chopped a weak grounder into no-man's land on the left side of the infield to score another run and keep the inning alive. The Redskins got a walk and Tyler Schwieterman hit a two-RBI single before Andrew got the third out on another fly ball to deep left.

Trailing 5-1, it was Celina's turn to respond, and it did so emphatically. Starting with a single by Zander Jones, the Bulldogs batted around and put up five runs of their own to retake the lead, scoring all five runs with two outs.

"A lot of the runs that we had, a lot of the hits that we had, were with two outs," Monnin said. "The fight that these guys had all night, we've kind of been missing that all summer. In the spring we were missing it too, so it's good to see that with the tournament coming."

Celina gets a chance to bounce back against Minster tonight, while St. Henry travels to Van Wert for a Saturday doubleheader.