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Marion Local's Landyne Minton catches the ball as Celina's Braylon Parker slides into second base during Monday's ACME game.
CEINA - Celina's 8-2 ACME win over Marion Local had fans at Montgomery field asking; was it a bird? A plane?
Not quite, but it was a jet.
Jett Warner, that is.
The Celina catcher's three-run triple highlighted a seven-run sixth inning for Celina that broke a 1-1 tie and kept the Bulldogs undefeated at 4-0 in the summer.
"Took a little longer than I would have liked to see but we batted around in the sixth and overcame a base running error," said Celina coach Todd Steinbrunner of the win. "We came back and had a really good inning to finish it off."
Mason Feiser got the start for Celina opposite Wesley Wolters for Marion. Both found early success en route to scoreless tie through two innings, where Celina went to Simon Schwartz to open the third.
Celina's Simon Schwartz pitches against Marion Local in ACME baseball action at Montgomery Field.
The righties kept the pitching duel going into the fourth after 1-2-3 frames, but it would be the Flyers to strike first in the top half. After Drew Cramer led off with a walk, Camden Wolters moved him in scoring position with a line-drive single to center. Ethan Simcoe swung through strike three, but with a roll to the backstop, Cramer sprinted home on the throw to first.
However, Celina had an immediate response in the home half. A two-out double from Braylon Parker allowed Schwartz to help his own cause and tie the game with his ground ball single to second. The score stayed at 1-1 entering the sixth, when Celina's aggressive approach paid off.
Collier Holstad began the rally with his leadoff single, and moved to third after a wild pitch. Chance Miller made it a 2-1 game when his double found some grass in right field. Ross came up with the bases loaded looking to extend the lead, and after he took a pitch off his arm, it was a two-run lead for the hosts.
Braylon Parker made it a 4-1 game when a throw back to the mound from Seth Heitkamp spilled into center. That gave Warner the chance for some major insurance, which he delivered.
He lined the second pitch he saw into right, past the outstretched glove of fielder Trevor Homan and all the way to the corner of the field. It cleared the bases and pushed Celina's lead to 7-1 in the biggest play of the day. Hunter Messner added to the lead when he drove Warner home on a grounder to shortstop, and Celina took the healthy lead into the seventh.
Celina's Braylon Steinbrunner slides home safely as Marion Local catcher Seth Heitkamp watches.
"I try to tell them to hit the fastball and have a good approach at the plate. Get on it early and don't get behind in the count, that's the big thing," said Steinbrunner.
Schwartz worked through a walk and error that plated Mitchell Fleck to give Celina the six-run win. Schwartz picked up the win after going five strong innings, where he struck out five and walked three while giving up just two runs. Warner finished with a pair of hits, while Schwartz and Parker joined him in the two-hit club. The Bulldogs travel to take on Fort Recovery tonight at 6:30 p.m.
"Simon and Mason both were very efficient," said Steinbrunner. "We threw less than 100 pitches as a team. They got ahead in counts and Simon did a great job at the plate going two-for-two. But he did a really good job of throwing strikes and getting ahead."
Wolters took the loss for Marion after his 5 1/3 of work. He gave up eight runs off eight hits, but picked up seven strikeouts with five walks. Homan and Cam Wolters had both hits for the Flyers, who take on Coldwater tomorrow on the road at 6:30 p.m.
