Bath falls to unbeaten Defiance
Apr. 30—DEFIANCE — The final score in Defiance's 10-0 baseball win over Bath on Friday was deceptive.
And so was Defiance pitcher Jayden Jerger, which was one of the biggest factors in the Bulldogs' win, which clinched a share of the Western Buckeye League championship for them.
Defiance (16-0, 7-0 WBL) got its 27th league championship in baseball with two WBL games still to play because every other WBL team has at least two losses.
Bath (6-9, 4-3 WBL) stayed close until the Bulldogs put eight runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning against two relief pitcher after the Wildcats' starter Blaine Albright hit his pitch limit.
"That was a heck of a ball game until the sixth inning. For us, it was a good game all around. It probably should have been a 2-1 game and you look at the score book and it's 10-0," Defiance coach Tom Held said.
Albright, a junior who has verbally committed to Ohio State, allowed three hits, struck out five and walked six. He threw 104 pitches and 54 were strikes.
"He made pitches when he needed to. He got some big outs when he needed to. He has to continue to work on his breaking stuff to be good at the next level. But he really slowed our running game down. We couldn't time him up. He's one of the better pitchers we'll see," Held said.
Jerger, who allowed six hits, struck out eight and didn't walk a batter, has barely been seen this season after suffering a broken finger in a weight room accident in January.
Friday's game was only the third appearance this season for Jerger, a first-team all-state selection last season.
"He has gotten better each outing. His change-up was really good today. They had five left-handed hitters in the lineup and that's when you want to use a change-up as a right-hander," Held said.
"I think maybe they got one hit off his change-up. That was his pitch. He never did find his breaking ball. I thought he had a pretty good fastball. And he throws strikes. Jayden has always thrown strikes."
Defiance took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jerger walked, Gavino Gomez reached base on an error, both runners moved up on a passed ball and Jerger scored on a wild pitch.
It stayed a one-run game until the fourth inning when Aiden Kiessling walked and Gavino Gomez doubled to score him for a 2-0 lead.
Bath threatened to score in the second, fifth and six innings but couldn't break into the scoring column.
In the second inning, Albright doubled with two out and Cody Vandemark followed with an infield single to put runners on first and third, but that was as far as they got.
In the fifth inning, Skyler Lhamon singled, stole second base and Austin Williams singled but Lhamon was thrown out at the plate.
Carter Parlapiano tripled with one out in the sixth inning but Jerger got back-to-back strikeouts to end that threat.
Quintin Collins was 2 for 3 for Bath. Defiance's Gavino Gomez was 3 for 4, Mark Butler was 2 for 4 and Jacob Howard was 2 for 2.
Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414.
