Yellow Jackets make first inning run hold up vs. Trojans

FINDLAY – Findlay High coach Jordan Nell has called the Northern Lakes League one of the best prep baseball leagues in the state.In Monday's NLL game at Woody Curlis Field, Nell's Trojans and the Perrysburg Yellow Jackets backed that comment up."Pitchers threw strikes. Both teams were fundamentally sound. It was a great baseball game both ways," Nell said after Perrysburg pushed across an unearned run in the first inning and held on for a pitchers-duel, defense-dominated, 1-0 victory over the Trojans."That's life in the NLL and the Buckeye Division."Monday's loss snapped a six-game Findlay winning streak and dropped the Trojans to 2-1 in NLL Buckeye Division games. Perrysburg is 6-6 overall, and also 2-1 in the Buckeye Division.Perrysburg coach Dave Hall is an Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer with over 750 career wins.He's seen more than his share of down-to-the-wire thrillers, including this season."Last Tuesday we lost 2-1 (to Anthony Wayne) on a walk-off home run in the eighth inning," Hall said.Friday, we lost 2-1 (to Oregon Clay) on a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh."Today we have this …. The kids might like this, but I don't."Perrysburg manufactured the lone run of the game not by getting hits, but by getting hit. Findlay starter Reece Stillings beaned three of the first four batters he faced and designated hitter Lucas Graham delivered a sacrifice fly to left.Stillings, a senior right-hander, pitched shutout ball the rest of the way, despite Perrysburg putting runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.Findlay gunned the lead runner down at the plate on an attempted double steal in the top of the fourth inning. After a lead-off ground-rule double by Ben Miller in the fourth, Stillings got back-to-back strikeouts to end that threat, and got another strikeout and a come-backer to the mound to snuff another possible rally in the fifth.When pinch hitter Dexter Arbinger led off the seventh with a base hit, Stillings took care of things himself, fielding a sacrifice bunt back to the mound, a one-hopper back to the mound, and a hard grounder off his shin where he scrambled after the ball and fired to first to end the inning."Reece threw very well today," Nell said."That says a lot about his composure after what happened early in the game. He definitely found it after that."Stillings allowed just four hits and struck out seven. Perrysburg went with its ace as well, with Tyler Palmer, a senior lefthander, also giving up just four hits – two by designated hitter Jacob Gebhardt – while striking out three and walking one."Their kid (Stillings) pitched lights out. He's one of the best pitchers around," Hall said."I think our kid (Palmer) is one of the best around, too. He's a four-year starter, he's pitched in two state Final Four games for us … He's not overpowering, but he knows how to pitch."Both teams flashed some impressive leather as well. Findlay centerfielder Luke Crates made an all-out diving catch on Palmer's drive into the gap in the sixth inning, and Perrysburg right-fielder Mason Kessinger, after a lead-off single by Gebhardt in the bottom of the seventh, made a similar diving catch on Caleb Kanney's liner that, had it gotten through, would likely have tied the game."I didn't know if one run would stand up," Hall said."We tried to move runners all day but we couldn't get it done. There were some great (defensive) plays made out there."In the home-an-home scheduling in the NLL's Buckeye Division, Findlay will travel to Perrysburg today when the teams square off in a rematch.If Monday's battle is any indication, it's could be intense. "Our kids hung in there. Their kids did too. It was a great game," Hall said."This is the NLL, and tomorrow we get to go out there and do it all over again."Perrysburg 100 000 0—1 4 0Findlay 000 000 0—0 4 1WP—Palmer. LP—Stillings. TOP HITTERS: (Per) Rettig 2B; Kessinger 2B; Graham RBI. (Fin) Gebhardt 2-1B.