Truckers open big week with league win

NORWALK — Even a day later, Wes Douglas could feel it. After his Norwalk High School baseball team grabbed an early lead and held off Sandusky for an 8-4 win on Tuesday, the longtime coach said the week has a "big feeling" to it. The Truckers improved to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the SBC Lake Division with the win. They travel to Vermilion (6-4, 4-1) on Wednesday and Bellevue (3-4, 1-2) on Friday in two more league games, then make the long trek to face longtime Division II powerhouse Defiance on Saturday in a non-league game. The game against the Blue Streaks had originally been scheduled for Monday, but was pushed back one day because of rain. "It's a big week for us. We talk about taking care of business one day at a time, and we have another big one on Wednesday and Friday before going to Defiance," Douglas said. "In my history here, you can almost point to one week a lot of times during the season, and this has a chance to be it for us. "I don't think it will dictate the final outcome, but I think we're going to find out a lot about who we are this week. We have the top of our staff set up, and I like where we're at right now." After the Blue Streaks got a quick run off starter Jesse Cole, the Truckers responded with a four-run bottom of the first and were in command from there. Back-to-back doubles from Sam Battles and Eli Obringer to start the first quickly tied the game at 1-1. Nate Adelman walked and Ian Minor singled him in for a 2-1 lead before an out was recorded. With Adelman on third, Caleb Sommers then put down a successful sacrifice bunt to first base for the third run. After Thomas Gfell walked and Isaac Scheel singled, Minor scored on an RBI ground out by Andrew Bundschuh to make it 4-1. The Truckers extended their lead to 6-1 after the third inning. Minor walked and Sommers singled, and Minor was able to score on an error as Sommers stole second. Gfell grounded out to short, which plated Sommers. In the top of the fourth, Cole ran into trouble after he recorded two outs. With a runner on base, he walked three consecutive batters to force in a run, then gave up a two-run single before getting a groundball out to end the inning with a 6-4 lead. Norwalk got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth. Cole and Battles singled to open the inning, and a wild pitch moved up both runners. An RBI ground out by Obringer made it 7-4, and a Minor sacrifice fly scored Battles to make it 8-4. Douglas brought in Obringer to pitch the final three innings, and he allowed just one base hit with six strikeouts and two walks. Cole was charged with four earned runs on four hits with one strikeout and six walks. "They always fight you to the last pitch," Douglas said of the Blue Streaks. "We got squeezed there I thought in the fourth inning and they got back in it a little bit. That was a good, solid start by Jesse, and that's the best Eli has thrown this year. He was hurt earlier in the year from diving for a ball. "He pitched at Willard (on April 9) and was even sharper today," he added. "The left side of the defense was very good today." Battles and Scheel were both 2 for 4 with a double, while Sommers also finished with two hits and drove in a run. Minor had just one official at-bat, a single, but also walked twice, scored twice and had two RBIs. "The guys were aggressive at the plate and I liked our at-bats for the most part today," Douglas said. "We made three outs on the bases, but I called those and their catcher made some nice plays. "We have some great guys in the dugout who come to play every day, and hopefully performances like today will be there the rest of the week." Sandusky 100 300 0 — 4 5 3 Norwalk 402 200 x — 8 9 2 WP: Cole; LP: Williams 2B: (S) Robinson, D'Amico; (N) Battles, Obringer, Scheel