By TIM McDONOUGH

mcdonough@crescent-news.com

Year after year after year after year.

That's how often you can expect Defiance to challenge for the Western Buckeye League baseball crown and on Tuesday at Defiance's Booster Field, the Bulldogs took a big step toward winning their 19th WBL title in school history. Defiance survived a sloppy game by coming up with clutch two-out hits in a big fifth inning to defeat Lima Shawnee 7-4, leaving the Bulldogs as the last unbeaten in league play. The win was also the first for Defiance as the No. 1 team in the state after the Bulldogs jumped from seventh to first this week in the latest Division II state poll.

Defiance (16-1, 7-0 WBL), can now clinch a share of the WBL title on Friday when it travels to Kenton, while the 10th-ranked Indians (17-4, 5-1 WBL) will need someone to knock off Defiance for them to have any chance for a piece of the title.

"Two-out hits ... five runs with two outs (in the bottom of the fifth inning) against the best pitcher in the league, I just don't know what to say about that," stated Defiance mentor Tom Held about how his team overcame a 3-2 deficit in the fifth inning against Shawnee lefty Cody Kopilchack. "I'll tell you, we didn't come close to playing our best game by any stretch of the imagination, but we came through when it counted against a very, very good team."

Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the fifth inning after the Indians took the lead with two runs in the top of the frame, it looked like Shawnee was in the driver's seat. When Kopilchack got the first two Bulldogs to fly out to start the fifth, the momentum was clearly in Shawnee's favor. Moments later, however, the Bulldogs snatched it back.

Defiance DH Mark Sebring hit a 2-0 offering to the bottom of the wall in deep left-center for a double, and when Justin Riley jumped on another Kopilchack fastball and deposited it in almost the exact same spot for a two-bagger, the game was tied 3-3. A wild pitch with Justin Hancock at the plate allowed Riley to move to third, before Hancock kept the inning alive by coaxing a walk.

That brought nine-hole hitter Bryn Lehman up for the Bulldogs. Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity, Lehman delivered on a full-count pitch with a seeing-eye single through the hole at short with Hancock running on the play. The third two-out hit of the inning scored Riley with the go-ahead run as Hancock raced to third.

Left-handed hitting senior Adam Wagner followed by taking a few pitches which allowed Lehman to reach second on a delayed steal. And when Wagner ripped a single to right, Hancock and Lehman scored to give DHS a 6-3 lead. One batter later, a misplayed ball in right off the bat of Alex Nofziger dropped in for a double, bringing Wagner home with Defiance's seventh run of the game.

"I'll tell you what, Mark Sebring got it going. He didn't knock in a run, but he got the inning going," said Held. "When you go up there with two outs and nobody on, sometimes you might be in the frame of mind that the inning is over. He didn't do that.

"We answered right back, with two down ... it was just so big," continued Held. "If we go down one, two, three there the game could have been over with Kopilchack settling in. Credit Mark for getting us started, J.R.. (Riley) for keeping it going, Bernie (Bryn Lehman) for a clutch hit and Snoop (Adam Wagner) for opening it up. All of those two-out hits were huge."

"Cody struggled today with is control and he didn't get ahead of hitters when he needed to," commented Shawnee mentor Chad Spencer. "Obviously when you pitch from behind it's going to come back and bite you. Today, Cody battled, but he just couldn't put together a sequence of pitches when he needed to and they took advantage of that, especially in the fifth inning."

For Sebring, Riley and Lehman, it was all about being aggressive.

Said Sebring: "I hadn't been aggressive in my earlier at-bats and when I went up there I just told myself to go after it. I was ahead 2-0 in the count and I knew he had to come at me. I got a fastball, I swung and what can you say, it went where it needed to go."

"I was thinking about my at-bat before that one when I didn't get a bunt down and I was thinking I had to step up," said Riley. "Coach (Rick) Weaver told us in the huddle to jump on our pitch and when I got the fastball I saw it and I jumped on it."

Said Lehman: "I was going up there trying to be aggressive, but I didn't get the pitches early that I wanted so I worked it to a full-count. He left one up there for me and luckily I turned on it and it found a hole. Up to that point we were struggling, but we found a way to get it done."

Defiance starter Dace Kime wasn't sharp for most of the game, but he was able to close out the Indians after the big outburst. Kime, who ran his record to 6-0 on the season after allowing four unearned runs, gave up a meaningless run in the seventh as the Bulldogs earned the 7-4 win, a win where Held was pleased to see his team overcome some adversity.

"We didn't execute some things, we didn't play good defense, but what we did do was win the game," said Held. "Dace battled today and the best thing I can say about that was when he didn't have close to his best stuff, he still got guys out. We had the big fifth inning where our guys found a way with two outs and that was also good to see.

"The big thing we got out of this today was we found out a little bit how mentally tough we are as a team," concluded Held. "When they got it done there in that fifth inning, I think this team took a step toward where we need to get to. We grew up today as a team and hopefully we can keep growing as we head down the stretch."

Linescore

Shawnee 100 020 1 - 4 4 0

Defiance 100 150 x - 7 7 3

Records: Defiance 16-1 (7-0 WBL), Lima Shawnee 17-4 (5-1 WBL).

Winning pitcher: Dace Kime (7 innings, 4 runs, 4 hits, 5 strikeouts, 5 walks).

Losing pitcher: Cody Kopilchack (5 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits, 4 strikeouts, 7 walks). Other: Keith Hefner.

Leading hitters: (Lima Shawnee, 4 hits). (Defiance, 7 hits) - Adam Wagner 2 singles; Alex Nofziger single, double; Mark Sebring double; Justin Riley double.