5-hitter by Delas leads Perrysburg
Yellow Jackets improve to 7-1 by defeating AW
4/22/2014Perrysburg is scheduled to play six baseball games in six days this week.
The Yellow Jackets opened a tough stretch of their season on a good note on Monday by defeating visiting Anthony Wayne 5-2 in a Northern Lakes League game.
Mark Delas (3-0) went the distance on the mound and limited the Generals to five hits, while striking out seven and walking four.
"I felt good early on and I had great defense [behind me] throughout the game and it was a good day for baseball," Delas said.
Delas received all of the run support he needed in the second inning when the Yellow Jackets (7-1, 3-0 NLL) pushed three runs across on three hits and an error against AW starter Josh Schwerer on the mound.
Connor Jordan and Zach Honsberger hit a run-scoring single apiece with two out during the frame. Seth Durham accounted for the third hit during the inning and scored to help the Yellow Jackets go up 3-1 over the Generals.
Perrysburg added two more runs in the third to increase the lead to 5-1. Nick Fleming led off the inning with a double and scored on a two-out base hit by Gus Dimmerling. A.J. Stockwell reached base on a walk and would eventually score on a fielder's choice play.
"I'm really happy with the defense and we got some timely hitting," Perrysburg coach Dave Hall said. "We scored all five runs with two outs, which is really big against a good ballclub.
"We've been very fortunate driving in runs when we needed to. We didn't exactly blister the ball, but we got some things and had some good baserunning."
Hall thought Delas produced a solid outing.
"For the first half of the game I thought he pounded the strike zone," Hall said. "He struggled the second half, getting behind hitters. But I think he settled in and I thought his pitch count got a little bit high at the end and I was getting a little worried.
"They were doing a good job of being patient there at the end, but when he got it across I don't think they were going to do much with it."
AW (8-5, 3-1 NLL) scored a run in the second and another in the seventh.
Peyton Brown gave the Generals a 1-0 lead when he smacked a triple to drive home Aaron Stark, who reached base with a single.
Schwerer, who went 3-for-4, singled in the seventh and scored on a fielder's choice. He suffered the loss after giving up five runs on four hits, while walking four and striking out one in three innings.
"[Delas] came out throwing fastballs for strikes and our kids did not adjust very well," AW coach Mark Nell said. "You need to adjust as a hitter. He throws pretty good, but he's not overpowering.
"For him to strike out six guys in the first two innings is nothing that we should do."
Nell was encouraged to seereliever Mason Zimmerman step in and pitch the final three innings and not allow a run while limiting the Yellow Jackets to one hit, fanning two and walking one.
"Mason threw very, very well," Nell said. "He gave us an opportunity to stay in the game. He competed for us. He's a junior and he showed me something and he might get the ball a little more often now.
"We just were flat with the bats early."
Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.