Bulldogs make hay while sun shines

MARIA STEIN - For the second consecutive night, the Celina ACME team got a solid start on the hill.

And for the second straight game, the result was a victorious one for the Bulldogs.

Shawn Rose struck out six and allowed just three hits in a 4-1 win over Marion Local in a game shortened to six innings due to darkness.

The junior-to-be's performance came a night after C.J. Kimmel's two-hitter against Parkway in a 9-2 win.

"The main thing was (Rose) kept it low," Celina coach Scott Montgomery said. "He did that the last time he came out. It's easier to go longer distances in the game when you're throwing strikes, and that's what he did."

The Celina middle hitters - Justin Keeling, Kimmel and Tanner Freeman - produced like they were supposed to, accounting for all five hits and three RBIs. With the game scoreless in the fourth, Keeling led off a mini-hit parade with a single to center. Kimmel drove him home with a double to the left-center gap to make it 1-0. Kimmel, who advanced to third on a balk, scored on Freeman's RBI single.

Marion starter Matt Kahlig was knocked out of the game after 31/3 innings of work. He allowed four hits and two earned runs before Duane Leugers came on to close the game.

Rose, who had allowed one hit and struck out a trio of batters through the first three innings, let the Flyers halve the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Kahlig reached safely with an infield single with no outs and then was moved to second on Aaron Nietfeld's sacrifice bunt, setting up an RBI single by Jared Bergman.

Rose shut the Flyers down in order in the fifth and sixth innings, and the Bulldogs gave their starter a little breathing room with a pair of sixth-inning runs. Once again, Keeling and Kimmel began the charge with a walk and a base hit, putting runners on first and third with no outs. Freeman and Keeling executed the suicide squeeze to perfection for a 3-1 lead and Kimmel later scored on a throwing error to first.

"That (suicide squeeze) was huge," Montgomery said. "Tanner Freeman did a great job. ... Playing small ball, that gets us runs and it helps us win games."

Keeling finished the night 2-for-2 with two runs scored and Kimmel went 2-for-3 with two runs for the Bulldogs, who improved their record to 5-2 on the campaign.

"Those two have ben big assets to the team," Montgomery said. "They get on when we need them. Kimmel had a really good hit-and-run. Overall, it wasn't just those two, but our team as a whole. ... We came out. We hit and we cut down on our errors and came out with a huge win."

Celina travels to play Coldwater starting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at Veterans Field.