Tue Feb 09 2010
By KEVIN EIS
LIMA -- Much has been said concerning the hitting and pitching strengths of the Defiance ACME baseball team, and with good reason. However, the blue-and-white displayed yet another weapon in its arsenal Saturday during the ACME state tournament at Shawnee Field.
Composure.
It was such composure which earned Defiance a pair of clutch runs in the top of the seventh inning while shutting down Bowling Green in the bottom half of the inning en route to a nail-biting 4-3 victory.
"It's so big (to get the win)," said first-year skipper Mark Elliott of his squad's come-from-behind triumph which keeps Defiance afloat in the winners' bracket of the double-elimination tournament. "Because now if we're down in this situation, we know we can come back. And it's always good to stay out of the losers' bracket. If we keep battling like this, we'll be all right."
Bowling Green head coach Brad Stickler spoke highly of the competitiveness between the two teams after BG pushed three runs across in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead, only to watch Defiance claim the win.
"Defiance is a great team," commented Stickler. "They bring great teams up every year. We played them earlier this year and they took care of us pretty handily. We've got a different ballclub right now, we've got a bunch of ambitious young kids that are coming up. I think it's a different team and we played them great today. I'm happy with the way they played."
With one away in the final frame and Bowling Green holding a 3-2 edge, Defiance got the bats going while facing its last chance at the dish. After Bowling Green hurler Max Beattie sent Ryan Cordray to first on a walk, junior second baseman Jake Thomas stroked an infield single with a nasty hop to short, putting runners on first and second.
Following a questionable strike-three call on Aaron Helland to bring Defiance one out away from defeat, Alex Nofziger parted the infield with a RBI single to score Cordray and knot the game at 3. Senior Dace Kime then stepped up with a screamer down the third baseline which scored Thomas from second for the go-ahead run before Bowling Green was able to end the assault.
"We had great at-bats there on the way to getting the runs across," noted Elliott. "(Nofziger and Kime) have been there all season. They're our go-to guys and they know when it comes to them, they've got to do the job, and they do."
Nofziger led Defiance at the plate with a pair of singles and a triple while Kime finished with a single, double and two RBI.
"It's not like we weren't hitting the ball," said Kime of the Defiance offensive effort which totaled eight hits and only three strikeouts. "We were putting the ball in play the whole entire game, but we were hitting it to them. In the last two innings we finally found some gaps and put it together."
Eric Stapleton punctuated a stellar pitching performance by fanning two in the final inning before getting Cody Lang to ground out to shortstop Corbin Stykemain for the final out of the game. Stapleton went the distance for Defiance, allowing just five hits while striking out nine.
"My defense supported me amazingly," lauded the junior righty. "All I could do was throw strikes and whatever happens, happens. I just had to keep composure and hope my teammates helped me out a little bit."
With five scoreless innings in the books of what was a tightly-contested pitchers' duel between Stapleton and Beattie, Defiance got the offensive tale-of-two-innings underway as Nofziger smacked a triple to the right-centerfield fence and scored on a double by Kime. Senior Jake Moser added a RBI single to the edge of the left field grass to score Kime and make it 2-0 in favor of the blue-and-white.
"Both pitchers did a great job of mixing pitches and keeping batters off balance," Elliott said. "The defense behind them was solid all night. Then in the sixth inning we started hitting some balls hard and finding holes. With our guys, we know how to execute and can get those runs in."
Bowling Green fired back in the bottom half as Joey Sickler, Toby Weinert and Tony Dible all crossed the dish to put their team back in the driver's seat at 3-2.
"There was absolutely no panic in the dugout," stated Kime. "That's just the way we play around here. You have that confidence when you have the 'D' on your shirt."
Defiance returns to action today at 7:30 p.m.
Linescore
Defiance 000 002 2 - 4 8 2
Bowling Green 000 003 0 - 3 5 1
Records: Defiance 28-5, Bowling Green 18-3.
Winning pitcher: Eric Stapleton (7 innings, 3 runs, 5 hits, 9 strikeouts, 2 walks).
Losing pitcher: Max Beattie (7 innings, 4 runs, 8 hits, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk).
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 8 hits) - Alex Nofziger 2 singles, triple; Dace Kime single, double, 2 RBI. (Bowling Green, 5 hits).
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