Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout

DEFIANCE - Four quality teams showed up at Booster field in Defiance with hopes of a sectional championship. In the first game two arch-rivals faced off as No. 1 Defiance and Napoleon (which have now met  three years in a row in sectionals). In the nightcap No. 3 Wauseon battled a talented Bowling Green squad.

In the end it was Defiance (25-1) and Bowling Green (14-8) moving on to districts, with Defiance pulling away to a 7-1 victory and BG claiming a 3-0 triumph.

In the opener two impressive pitchers squared off as University of Kentucky recruit Robert Zeigler (pictured left) faced Top Prospect Games participant Zach Willeman (pictured right).  

The Wildcats (8-17) got on top in the first as sophomore shortstop Michael Gilliland got it started, drawing a one-out walk. Junior Tyler Torrez ripped a double to left-center field that was bobbled allowing Gilliland to score all the way from first on a close play at home (pictured) to put the 'Cats up 1-0.  
 

Napoleon still had a runner on third with one out, so the scoring threat was not done, but Zeigler bared down and struck out two straight to close on the frame.

Defiance head coach Tom Held was please with how Zeigler competed after allowing the first run.

“When Robbie had to get tough, he got tough,” Held said. “He gave up that first run, that’s okay we knew we needed to score to win, but when he struck out the next two guys with a runner on third and one out, that was huge. If they score that second run there, then we tighten up a little bit. But Robbie got those next two guys, which was big."

As Held said "we needed to score to win" and the top-ranked Bulldogs did just that in the bottom half of the frame, scoring two runs on zero hits to take a 2-1 lead.

TP Games participants Austin Hancock and Dom Gentile drew back-to-back walks advancing around the bases on a passed ball and an error on the second basemen. 

“Answering them right back with two runs was also obviously huge,” added Held.

After the rough first inning by both talented pitchers each settled down as the score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth when Defiance blew the game open putting a five-spot up on the board to take a 7-1 lead.

Zeigler led the inning off with a walk and, after a fly out, junior Adam Schaffer ripped a single by Gilliland at short to put two on. Pinch hitter Drake Jimenez (Defiance College recruit) got plunked to load the bases and all three runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, unsigned senior catcher Joe Keween drew a two-out walk to load the bases bringing to the plate unsigned senior Dom Romero.

With the count full, the lefty (pictured) ripped a two-run single up the middle to bust the game wide open at 5-1 and bring an end to Willeman's day on the mound. A wild pitch and passed ball led to two more runs, giving Defiance the 7-1 lead.
 

“On the 3-2 pitch, everyone was asking me what I was thinking about,” explained Romero. “Honestly, there’s a new song out by Macklemore called ‘Can’t Hold Us,’ I was singing that in my head the whole at-bat, so that’s what was going through my head. It felt good to get that hit, especially after I had my struggles during the regular season.”

Held on Romero's at bat: "Dom hasn’t had the senior year he wanted, but I told him last night, ‘tomorrow’s a new season, that’s when everyone will remember the hits.’ Very proud of him for staying the course and getting it done in a big situation.”

Zeigler (7-0) closed the door on the 'Cats the rest of the way securing Defiance its 28th sectional title. The talented righty ended up with 12 punchouts while allowing the one unearned run on three hits and three walks.

Coach Held had high praise for Zeigler's counterpart on the mound, Willeman.

"Zach Willeman, stuff wise, is the best pitcher we have seen this year, without a doubt," Held said. "He was 86-88, he throws a breaking ball at 76-77 at times. We knew he would struggle a little bit with control, so we wanted to make him work. He's a good pitcher (and) he has a future no doubt about that. He's a good pitcher."

Willeman's pitching line was a little bit deceiving as he went four and two-thirds innings allowing seven runs on just three hits with four strikeouts. But the talented righty struggled with walks, allowing eight Bulldogs to reach via the base on balls.

“The last time we played them we lost 8-2, they had three singles and we walked 13 guys. Tonight we lost 7-1, they had three singles and we walked nine guys,” said Napoleon head coach Mark Stacey. “Something about the Defiance mystique, for whatever reason, our pitchers just can’t throw strikes. I thought we had quality at-bats against a very good pitcher, but Zeigler got into a groove and once that happened ... it was light’s out.”

In the second game, Bowling Green jumped on top early scoring three runs in the first two innings and that was enough as Eastern Illinois recruit Andy Fisher (pictured) shut out No. 3 ranked Wauseon.

The Bobcats took advantage of an error, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly off the bat of smooth swinging sophomore Mitch Cromley to grab the early 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, a two-run homer from sophomore eight-hole hitter Mason Apple gave the Bobcats a 3-0 advantage, a lead BG did not surrender.

“We’re lucky ... that’s been our motto this year and that’s what happened tonight,” stated BG coach Robert Yenrick. “We hit the ball on the button a few times, but right at people. But we got some big hits to get that early lead.”

Fisher, a talented lefty, kept the potent Indian bats at bay, keeping them off balance all night with a mix of fastballs and curveballs. "Fish" finished with 11 strikeouts and just two walks while allowing six hits.

Wauseon (18-5) did have its scoring chances, though, as the Indians got runners to second and third in both the second and the fourth and a runner to third in the third, but was unable to score. 

Wauseon mentor Trent Thomas knew if the Indians got that first run things could have went a different way.

“I felt like if we could have gotten one run, it would have been a springboard to more,” stated Thomas. “They scored a run without a hit in the first inning, that was very frustrating... and their 8-hole hitter turns on one, which was very frustrating.

"We couldn’t come up with a big hit. We’d get two together, but we couldn’t get that third. Give them credit, they were the better team today.”

The Indians' starter Jake Trejo (South Carolina Sumpter recruit) got tough after allowing the two-run bomb.The talented righty, who sat 80-84 with a nasty slider in the low-to-mid-70s, sat down 17 of the next 19 Bobcat hitters.

Trejo allowed the three runs on just three hits while striking out nine and not allowing a free pass.

Coach Thomas was proud of Trejo's performance and his team, especially the senior class:

“Jake is our rock, he just missed where he couldn’t miss to Apple,” Thomas said. “He threw it low and in, and we had talked about working him high and in, and low and out. Jake just missed in that spot and the kid dropped the barrel on it.

“It’s a hard loss because this group has meant so much,” concluded Thomas. “When I got here we had won four games in two years, and just a few years later these seniors were freshmen. The last three years we’ve won 17, 16 and now 18 games. They’ve meant a ton to our program, hopefully the younger kids follow their lead.”

Defiance (one of five Western Buckeye League teams headed to the districts) and Bowling Green advance to district play on Thursday at Archbold with the Bulldogs taking on Toledo Central Catholic at 4:30 p.m., while BG will face No. 2 ranked Sandusky Perkins in the nightcap at 7 p.m.

To view scouting notes from this game, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.