Truckers, Flyers scrimmage in regular season tune-up

NORWALK — A sight for sore eyes. That phrase wasn't too strong to describe a simple scrimmage on Monday at Norwalk Area Contractor's Park. In one dugout, Norwalk coach Wes Douglas enjoyed a rare 70-degree day in March. Across the field in other dugout, St. Paul coach Aaron Fries got to see his team up close again following a "first year" he never got to see his kids play at all. The Truckers used a six-run first inning in the 10-3 final score over the seven innings. Both teams in the Maple City are scheduled to open the regular season on Saturday. "I walk out of here smiling today," Fries said. The 1999 St. Paul graduate was hired to replace Jim Carper prior to the 2020 season that never was, because of the coronavirus pandemic. "Obviously it's a scrimmage, but we already have a pretty good gauge on our first unit — so I wanted to see what our second unit looked like when we didn't have one of our No. 1 pitchers on the mound," Fries said. "In that first inning, I thought we were a little bit tight, but after that we played really well. "We hit the ball better than I expected," he added. "We got production out of the bottom of the lineup that I wasn't expecting, so I'm pretty happy today. We saw some kids grow just throughout the game. They were put under pressure early and struggled with that at the beginning, but they picked it up." Meanwhile, Douglas had veteran pitchers Thomas Gfell (one earned run, one hit, four strikeouts) and Eli Obringer (one earned run, four hits, three strikeouts) pitch three innings each as Saturday's season opener vs. Ontario nears. "First of all, it's 70 degrees in March and this is the first time we've played here, and we're really impressed with the field," Douglas said of Contractor's Park, which opened in March 2019. "It was fun, these guys obviously all know each other. "There were a lot of good things we did today baseball-wise, though definitely a few things to work on," he added. "But through our two scrimmages so far, we've been very happy with our pitchers' location and their secondary pitches. We feel like they're ready to roll, and we stretched them out a bit today for the first time. "But we're just happy to be down here on a day like today. It wasn't perfect, but we did a lot of things well." Tyler Perkins went the first two-thirds of the first inning for the Flyers, allowing six runs (one earned) on five hits with two strikeouts. St. Paul was hurt by a pair of errors in the inning. Scotty Adelman then threw 4 1/3 innings for St. Paul. He had seven strikeouts while allowing two unearned runs on two hits. He is headed to NCAA Division II Tiffin University for baseball, while Gfell will do the same for the Div. III College of Wooster. Andrew Bundschuh was 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs for the Truckers, who also got two hits and an RBI each from Caleb Sommers and Gfell, while Brayson Malson also added two hits. "Andrew had a big double at our first scrimmage and squared up two balls again today," Douglas said. "He's been in our program for four years and has always had a great attitude and worked hard. He'll tell you he doesn't pass the look test as a starting athlete, but he gets the job done. Just happy for him right now, and everything else was kind of what we expected. "We're filling in a little more depth since practice has been full-go, and our 11-to-14 guys are really improving," he added. "Malson had two hits tonight, and Jesse Cole is coming along — so we're getting there." For St. Paul, Adelman was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Jaycob Stanley had a hit and drove in two, while Thomas Bocock doubled, and Eli Fisher and Kole Maxwell each singled. St. Paul is at Port Clinton at 1 p.m. on Saturday to begin the regular season. "Obviously we have things to work on, but there are no surprises from that perspective," Fries said. "I saw some kids do some things today that gives me more confidence when we're in a game where we don't have our two No. 1 pitchers on the mound. "When they are out there, I know my lineup and I'm really confident in who's out there. Today was about gaining confidence in where we are at when our third, fourth or fifth pitchers are out there. In that regard, I walk out of here pretty happy with what I saw." Fries, who played in the first Norwalk vs. St. Paul game in 1999 when the series became an annual matchup until 2013, said it was good to see the two programs meet again. "Norwalk challenged us early and our kids stumbled a bit, but really settled in nicely as the game progressed," he said. "It was fun playing Norwalk this afternoon. I have a great relationship with their coaching staff and look forward to playing in the future if the opportunity presents itself."