Flyers shut down SMCC for sectional title

NORWALK — No one needed to tell TJ Blanton the odds. The St. Mary Central Catholic baseball coach knew exactly the matchup his team had in Thursday's Division IV sectional championship game at St. Paul. The No. 2 seed in the Clyde district, the Flyers had Scotty Adelman on the mound. And just hours after the NCAA Div. II Tiffin University commit was named the OHSBCA District 9 Player of the Year, the senior looked the part. "We knew what we were up against and what the odds were," Blanton said. "He's just a heck of a pitcher, and we kind of tried to practice that in the last week. We were moving the BP up, throwing harder and getting our kids to try and swing early. "I thought early on we did a good job of that, but then we kind of faded with that, and we knew (Adelman) was going to be around the plate often with his pitches." Adelman needed just 86 pitches (58 strikes) in six shutout innings, striking out 10 with one walk in the 10-0 run-rule win for the Flyers (19-7) at Norwalk Area Contractors Park. Up next for No. 21-ranked St. Paul is a rematch with Tiffin Calvert (21-5) in a district semifinal at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Clyde High School. The Senecas topped the Flyers by an 8-2 score way back on a chilly March 31 — the fourth game of the season for St. Paul. With the win, Adelman improved to 9-1 and lowered his earned run average to 1.46. He has struck out 114 batters and walked 22 in 62 1/3 innings this season. The Panthers (7-21) did get a leadoff baserunner to start the game, as Anderson Gennari reached on an infield error. But no damage was done as Adelman and his defense recorded three straight outs. Aside from Gennari and Brock Gill singling in the second inning, and a walk by Braden Wilson in the top of the fourth, SMCC did not have a baserunner. "We looked a little tight on the first ball or two, but after that we kind of settled down," St. Paul coach Aaron Fries said. "When Scotty is on the mound, we feel pretty good and can absorb a few blows here or there, and we certainly did that in the first inning. Once we settled down, we started to make plays. "It was good to see the kids who kind of made mistakes early, they got tough balls hit at them pretty much immediately — and they made great plays on them," he added. "That kind of helped settle those kids down. Let's not forget this is a pretty young team still with just two seniors. We're pretty young at some pretty important positions, and they responded well after a little shaky start." It took just three batters for St. Paul to give Adelman all the support he needed. Adelman opened the bottom of the first with a hard hit single to center, then stole second base. He also has 45 stolen bases this season. With one out, Jaycob Stanley drove in Adelman with a single to third, then after stealing second, Stanley scored when Thomas Bocock reached on an error. Luke Blum followed with an RBI single to score Bocock, and the Flyers were off and running with a 3-0 lead after the first inning. In the bottom of the third, Blum reached on a fielder's choice and Drew Kuhnle was hit by a pitch from freshman SMCC starter Ben Millis. Tyler Perkins then delivered a two-run double for a 5-0 lead. After Kaden Maxwell doubled, he came around to score when Adelman reached on an error to extend the lead to 6-0. St. Paul added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Perkins singled and scored on an RBI groundout by Kole Maxwell. Adelman singled and scored on an RBI base hit to right by Eli Fisher, then Bocock drove in Fisher for the ninth run. The game ended in the bottom of the sixth. Perkins reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to third on a single by Kaden Maxwell. Kole Maxwell walked, then Adelman fittingly ended the game with a deep drive to center, which was caught for the out, allowing Perkins to score easily for the 10th run. Adelman, Bocock, Perkins and Kaden Maxwell each finished with two hits for the Flyers, who were efficient with 10 runs on 11 hits. Blanton said his team never recovered from the top of the first inning. After Gennari reached and stole second, a groundout to Adelman was fired to Fisher covering third base, who tagged Gennari out. SMCC then never saw a runner advance to third base for the duration of the game. "Our approach was to be aggressive early," Blanton said. "I thought we did that the first two innings, but they made a great play in the first inning that kind of took any chance of momentum from us — and then we didn't make a couple plays defensively. "With our team, we're young. We don't make a lot of those plays," he added. "But you hope you make some to keep it a manageable deficit." The Panthers had just one senior on the roster for Thursday's game. "It was a growing year for everybody," Blanton said. "Most of these juniors didn't play as freshmen, so we were breaking in eight guys — and that's tough for any team who didn't get to play last year. "That's not an excuse, but hopefully some of these guys got to grow this year and will step up into leaders next year and be ready to go." Meanwhile, the Flyers turn their attention to Tiffin Calvert. Top-seeded Hopewell-Loudon (22-5) faces No. 4 Fremont St. Joseph (19-10) in the 2:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, followed by St. Paul and the No. 3 Senecas. "We're going to have to play quite a bit better than that day," Fries said of the March 31 loss. "I was really impressed with them and they are a really well-coached team with outstanding players. They will make you work for it. We're going to have to play our best baseball if we're going to be successful. "We know our road is tough," he added. "Whoever gets out of that district will earn it. The four teams there are all going to be really, really good. Whoever comes out of it will have played well and will have earned it, no doubt about it." St. Mary CC 000 000 — 0 2 4 St. Paul 303 031 — 10 11 1 WP: Adelman (9-1); LP: Millis 2B: (SP) Ka. Maxwell, Perkins