Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout

BOWLING GREEN - When you have two top 20 teams in Division I battling for a chance to advance to Regionals you know it will be a close contest and No. 7 Perrysburg and No. 17 Norwalk certainly provided that.

Perrysburg (26-3) had outstanding defense, used timely hitting and had stellar pitching to squeak past Norwalk, 3-2.

The Yellow Jackets got on top in the first as lead-off center fielder Steve Slocum drew a walk and advanced to second on a one-out infield single by starting pitcher Mark Delas. Perrysburg loaded the bases on a two-out walk by unsigned senior Nick Munger before fellow unsigned senior Kyle Durham was plunked on a 2-2 pitch to put P-Burg on top 1-0.

Perrysburg went on top 2-0 in the second when Gus Dimmerling singled to left, moved to second and third on wild pitches, and scored on Slocum’s sacrifice fly to center.

Perrysburg’s final run came in the fourth when Slocum singled with one out.  Delas and AJ Stockwell each hit two-out singles to eventually plate the speedy Slocum.

Norwalk (25-5) scored a run in the third and made it 3-2 in the sixth, before Delas stranded the tying run at first to end the inning.

The Truckers had a chance to tie it in the seventh, but Durham had the defensive play of the game with one out in the seventh when he threw out Norwalk’s Tyson Putnam at second base.

Putnam reached on an infield single to shortstop and tried to advance to second when Delas' pitch bounced in the dirt. The ball hit Durham, but bounced away from the catcher to his right. He scrambled to recover the ball, then threw a bullet to second baseman Nick Fleming for the out. Delas struck the next batter out to end the game.

Perrysburg advances to play No. 6 Toledo St. Francis DeSales (27-1) in a regional semifinal. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday at Bowling Green State University’s Steller Field.