Sun Nov 08 2009
By TIM McDONOUGH
BRYAN -- For all of four innings Bryan sophomore left-hander Alex Nossaman kept the Defiance baseballers off-balance with some impressive pitching. In the fifth inning, however, the Bulldogs got to the young lefty for three runs before busting open the game in the sixth in an 8-3 win over the Golden Bears Saturday at Sumpter Field in Bryan.
The victory pushes the win streak for Defiance (15-1) to 13 games, while Bryan falls to 10-3 on the year.
"Anytime you beat Bryan it's a big win," stated Defiance head coach Tom Held. "Bryan is a great baseball program, so to come over here and walk away with a win is special."
Early on it looked as though Bryan might get the best of Defiance with its talented young lefty keeping the Bulldogs off the basepaths. And when the Bears scratched across a run in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead, things were really looking good for the home team.
A lead-off walk to Andy Park, followed by an infield single by Cody Thorp put pressure on DHS righty Richie Killion right off the bat. A swinging bunt by Jeremy Robinson moved the runners up a base and when Dane Ponscak followed with a chopper toward third, Park scored to put the visitors in a hole.
That's when Nossaman went to work, keeping the Bulldogs off the bases for the next three innings, including striking out the side in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Killion settled down for Defiance and got his breaking ball working. Killion, who ran his record to a perfect 6-0 on the season, kept his team in the game by not allowing any more runs, while his defense made some great plays behind him. One of those plays included a diving catch in right by Craig Gutman off the bat of Bryan's Ben Elting to keep the Bears off the basepaths.
Said Held: "Richie really impressed me today, he really competed out there. When he gets his breaking ball across like that he's really tough. We wanted to establish that pitch today early and it ended up paying off. The guys played great defense behind him to keep us in it when we were behind 1-0."
Bryan head coach Tony Ebersole was impressed with the Defiance righty.
"Richie threw a lot of strikes today and he's got a great breaking ball," said Ebersole. "He just never got rattled. When we got guys on third, he just kept going at us and going at us. He won the battle today."
For Killion, it was all about just trying to keep his team in the game.
"Craig and the guys made some great catches out there for me today ... it was a battle," said Killion. "My curveball was good early, which was big because I was having trouble locating my fastball."
Defiance's fortunes finally turned around in the fifth inning.
Justin Hancock singled to start the frame off Nossaman. A sacrifice bunt by Bryn Lehman moved Hancock to second, bringing Adam Wagner to the plate. Wagner followed with a bloop single to left, but Hancock was unable to advance. A balk by Nossaman moved the runners up 90 feet, prompting and intentional walk to Alex Nofziger to load the bases and set up the double play.
The strategy backfired when Dace Kime laced a Nossaman offering deep down the line in right. The ball just got over the head of Bryan right fielder Devin Ponscak, and was just barely fair. Kime ended up on second with a bases-clearing double, with Nofziger scoring from first by barely beating the tag at the plate. That gave Defiance a 3-1 lead.
"The winner of the Bryan and Defiance game is the team that always comes through in the clutch, and today they were that team," said Ebersole. "In the end, it wasn't our day."
"Alex Nossaman is a good pitcher who is mature beyond his years," said Held about the Bryan lefty. "He's got a great change-up that really kept us off-balance. In the fifth I think we kind of waited him out and were able to get some baserunners. When he didn't get ahead of hitters in that inning, we were able to take advantage of it for three big runs."
Hancock and Kime were happy to get it rolling in the fifth.
"Going into that at-bat coach was telling us to stay back and wait on his change-up and that's what I got on a 1-0 pitch," said Hancock. "I waited back on it and was able to line it up the middle. It got us going and gave us some momentum."
"Right as soon as I hit it, I looked up and thought it was going foul but it just kept going straight," said Kime. "At first I thought it was going to be a sacrifice fly, but once it fell in it felt really good. Then Alex made a great slide to get us that third run."
Defiance broke open the game in the sixth by scoring five runs on just one hit to take an 8-1 lead. A double by Hancock, five walks, a hit batsman, two wild pitches and a passed ball opened the flood gates for the Bulldogs.
Bryan scored two in the bottom of the seventh to make it an 8-3 game, but Killion closed out the Bears to earn the complete-game victory.
Defiance returns to action on Monday when it travels to Fairview for a 4:30 p.m. contest.
Linescore
Defiance 000 035 0 - 8 8 3
Bryan 100 000 2 - 3 3 0
Records: Defiance 15-1, Bryan 10-3.
Winning pitcher: Richie Killion (7 innings, 3 runs, 3 hits, 10 strikeouts, 4 walks).
Losing pitcher: Alex Nossaman (5 1/3 innings, 6 runs, 7 hits, 7 strikeouts, 6 walks). Others: Kevin Martin, Chris Ross.
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 8 hits) - Adam Wagner 2 singles; Alex Nofziger 2 singles; Dace Kime double, 3 RBI; Justin Hancock single, double. (Bryan, 3 hits) - Cody Thorp single, triple; Ben Elting double.
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