FC BASEBALL: St. Paul, Plymouth remain unbeaten

NORWALK — The St. Paul baseball team used a six-run fourth inning to maintain its spot atop the Firelands Conference following Wednesday's 8-1 win over Ashland Crestview at Norwalk Area Contractors Park. With the win, the Flyers improved to 8-3 overall and 4-0 in the FC. St. Paul again got strong starting pitching from the 1-2 punch of Scotty Adelman and Tyler Perkins. After Adelman's strong outing on Tuesday in a 5-3 win at Crestview, Perkins followed him on Wednesday by pitching all seven innings and scattering four hits. Perkins allowed just an unearned run in the top of the sixth while striking out six and walking one. He threw 87 pitches — 61 of which were strikes (71 percent). He retired the side in order in three of the seven innings. "As I always say, it starts on the mound and Tyler was in complete control from the first pitch," St. Paul head coach Aaron Fries said. "Crestview is a good hitting team and he had them off balance all night. Tyler has been as advertised all season long, and things were no different (on Wednesday.)" In the bottom of the third, Adelman walked and stole second and third, then came around to score on an RBI single from Eli Fisher, who then advanced all the way to third himself on the throw and an error. K. Maxwell then hit a sacrifice fly to score Fisher and give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Thomas Bocock led off the St. Paul half of the inning with a single and stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored off an RBI single from Jaycob Stanley. Adam Baker followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0, and he scored on the next batter when Adelman hit an RBI single for the fifth run. Fisher singled to put runners on the corners, and Perkins reached base on a fielding error, which scored Adelman for a 6-0 lead. Luke Blum then capped the inning with a two-run double to put the Flyers ahead 8-0. "Our defense was on it tonight," Fries said. "It was a great bounce back from Tuesday when we made some uncharacteristic mistakes late in the game. I do not want poor defensive play to become a trend, so it was good to see our defense step up and make some big plays. "In two games, we allowed no earned runs to a very good hitting team and are 4-0 in conference after the first two weeks of play," he added. "To say I am happy with that would be an understatement." The Flyers will host Danbury in a non-league game on Thursday, then travel to Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic (8-3) for a doubleheader on Saturday. Crestview 000 001 0 — 1 4 2 St. Paul 002 600 x — 8 9 1 WP: Perkins; LP: M. Ringler 2B: (SP) Blum New London 3, Monroeville 1 MONROEVILLE — The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the sixth that proved to be the difference in a road win over the Eagles on Wednesday at Clark Park. Logan Wallace was 2 for 3 with a double and scored a run for New London (2-3, 1-2), while Hayden Liss had a double and two RBIs. Carter Downs, Grant Heileman and Logan Girton added singles. Jacob Shaver threw all seven innings for the 'Cats, allowing one earned run on four hits with 13 strikeouts and one walk. For Monroeville (0-7, 0-3), Daniel Smith singled and scored in the seventh on an RBI from Trevor Schafer. Braydon Bodkin and Austin Nichols added base hits. On the mound, Meritt Key went all seven innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits with four strikeouts and one walk. New London 100 002 0 — 3 6 0 Monroeville 000 000 1 — 1 4 3 WP: Shaver; LP: Key 2B: (NL) Liss, Wallace Plymouth 8, W. Reserve 3 COLLINS — The Big Red remained tied atop the FC standings following a win over the host Roughriders on Wednesday. Luke Hamann and Zeth Goth each finished with two hits, an RBI and a run scored for Plymouth (5-4, 4-0). Zach Hamann was 2 for 5 and scored twice, while Cam Welch singled and had two RBIs. Goth went the first six innings on the mound, allowing one earned run on two hits with nine strikeouts and six walks. For Western (1-11, 1-3), Kaden Boswell was 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored, and Chris Buchanan singled and drove in a run. Plymouth 001 052 0 — 8 11 1 W. Reserve 000 100 2 — 3 3 0 WP: Goth; LP: Muenz 2B: (P) Miller; LP: Boswell