PBR Spotlight Game: Division II State Championship No. 1 Defiance vs. No. 24 Jonathan Alder
June 8, 2013
Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout
COLUMBUS – Defiance senior left-hander Weston Rivers flirted with Ohio High School baseball history on Saturday night before setting on a four-hitter in leading the top-ranked Bulldogs to an 8-2 win over No. 24-ranked Jonathan Alder in the Division II state championship game.
The 6-4 southpaw, nicknamed Heff (pictured right), had a perfect game through 6 1/3 innings and took a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh. Nobody ever in Ohio had thrown a perfect game in any state tournament game, nor had there ever been a no-hitter in a state title game.
Although Alder managed to get four hits off Rivers in the final inning, Rivers capped off a 31-1 season for Defiance by striking out the final batter with his unhittable knuckleball, his 15th K of the game.
“There was no wind to contend with and the strike zone was good,” the modest soft-spoken Rivers said. “I was hoping my speed was a little higher, but I stayed consistent and they couldn't touch it. It's all about getting ahead with the fastball and coming back with the knuckleball.”
Rivers, who finished an impressive senior season with a 10-0 record striking out 87 in 68 2/3 innings while allowing just 25 hits and 12 walks with four earned runs (two coming in the seventh inning against Alder), was a consistently 83-84 topping out at 85 with his fastball while throwing the knuckleball 73-76.
“I don't think I've ever coached a game and been dominated by someone as much as he did,” Alder coach Craig Kyle said about his impression of Rivers. “He threw his fastball by us with movement and his knuckleball for strikes. He's a lefty throwing mid-80s. That's the first time I've seen someone against one of my teams throw it (the knuckleball) for strikes. I tip my hat to him.”
Defiance head coach Tom Held on Rivers:
"He was absolutely fabulous ... he totally dominated a great team, he was in total control, he threw first-pitch strikes, he got the knuckleball over, he was tough."
Rivers fell behind the first hitter of the game 3-0, but came back to record an out, then preceeded to dominate striking out 11 of the next 14 batters he faced.
His Defiance teammates, which left the bases loaded in the top of the first, gave Rivers all the runs he would need in the fifth. Junior Derek Turner led off with a single off Alder starting hurler Pete Whitmer but was forced out on an Austin Hancock (junior) grounder to third. After Dom Gentile walked on a 3-2 pitch, Rob Zeigler (Kentucky recruit) hit a single up the middle to plate Hancock.
Adam Schaffer then lined out to right bringing Defiance College recruit Austin Yant (pictured left) to the plate. The senior DH who struck out with the bases full and one out in the first, got his redemption with a single to left bringing in Gentile and Zeigler.
"Before I went up to bat Joe Keween gave me a pep-talk,” Yant said. “He told me I'm a better batter when I'm aggressive so I went up there aggressive. I had two strikes on me, I didn't like the pitch before, so I just wanted to put the ball in play. I got a ball I could handle and I drove it into left."
A Dom Romero (unsigned senior) RBI single followed and Rivers had a 4-0 lead with nine outs remaining.
The Bulldogs added three runs in the fifth. Turner again got the rally started with a single to left before Hancock reached on a bunt single. After a Gentile sac bunt and intentional walk to Zeigler, Turner scored on a passed ball.
“They told me to move up in the box and see it better,” Turner said of his approach at the plate on his two hits after striking out in his first at-bat. “I just wanted to put it in play. It was a great feeling to help put runs on the scoreboard to help out.”
Schaffer (pictured below), the junior clean-up hitter bunted home Hancock on a squeeze play. After Yant was walked, Zeigler made it 7-0 on another passed ball.
Gentile “the vacuum”, the Defiance junior third baseman who made a great play in the field in the fourth inning to help keep the perfect game intact, upped the Defiance lead to 8-0 with an RBI single in the seventh to score pinch runner Garrett Sierra after unsigned senior Joe Keween reached on an error.
Trent Kaltenbach was hit by a pitch with one out in the sixth to give Alder its first baserunner of the game, but Rivers still had his no-hitter going to start the seventh.
With the crowd buzzing in excitement, Casey Graber lined a 2-2 pitch to left field to break up the no-hit bid of Rivers, who later allowed singles to Scott Peters, Connor Headings and a two-run single by Bret Yutzy, before closing the deal with a strikeout.
Held on winning state:
Assistant coach and hitting coordinator Rick Weaver's thoughts on the program being so close so many times and finally getting over the hump.
"This was a great win for the Defiance Baseball program," stated coach Weaves. "The support from our alumni is second to none. We had so many former players that made the trip to Columbus to support this team and this championship is as much theirs as it is the 2013 team. We have come so close so many times and to finally reach every coach and players dream is something that hasn't really set in yet."
At the plate during the tournament Defiance was led by Hancock (pictured above with medal) who was 4-for-8 and Romero who was 3-for-5.
The Bulldogs outscored its opponents 48-6 in the tournament.
Linescore
Defiance 000 043 1 - 8 10 1
Alder 000 000 2 - 2 4 3
Records: Defiance 31-1, Jonathan Alder 24-9.
Winning pitcher: Weston Rivers (7 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 15 strikeouts, 0 walks).
Losing pitcher: Pete Whitmer (5 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks). Others: Brad Miller, Mitchell Eye.
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 10 hits) - Austin Hancock 2 singles; Dom Romero 2 singles, Derek Turner 2 singles. (Jonathan Alder, 4 hits).
