Siefring, Redskins edge 'Dogs 5-4

ST. HENRY - Consistent pitching and manufacturing runs.

The St. Henry baseball team has been successful in each of those departments on its way to an undefeated start.

And the Redskins were good in those departments again on Monday, as they defeated Celina, 5-4, on a cold night at Wally Post Athletic Complex.

Matt Siefring tossed a complete-game four-hitter, and St. Henry capitalized on a few Celina errors with some clutch hitting en route to improving to 4-0 on the season.

"It was a great team effort," St. Henry skipper John Dorner said. "Matt Siefring does what Matt Siefring does - he goes out and throws strikes. He lives at the knees all day long. He doesn't walk people. He did a helluva job for us, and our defense played pretty good."

Siefring struck out five and walked one. After an error-filled fourth inning allowed the Bulldogs to score three runs and cut the deficit to 5-4, Siefring buckled down and only allowed one more base runner the rest of the game. He finished the job with a 1-2-3 seventh.

Leadoff hitter Jason Evers singled and stole second on St. Henry's opening at-bat. Later in the inning, with two outs, Evan Lefeld took a deuces-wild delivery from Celina starter Justin Keeling and put it over the head of right fielder Shawn Rose to score Evers for a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs put back-to-back runners on to open the second, as Kevin McGohan drew a walk and C.J. Kimmel singled. After fouling off two sacrifice bunt attempts, Nate Kirk hit an RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 1-all.

The Redskins, though, gave Siefring all the run support he needed in the third.

Ryan Luttmer reached on an infield error to begin the inning. He moved to second on a bunt by Evers, setting up an RBI double by Mitch Stammen. Following another error on the Bulldog infield, Conner Bruggeman slapped an RBI double to the right-center gap, and St. Henry led 3-1. Then, Siefring helped his own cause with a two-run single on the next at-bat.

The St. Henry defense had its issues with errors when Celina next came to the plate. The Bulldogs loaded the bases following two errors and a hit by pitch. Kole Murlin lofted a fly ball to shallow right field, and McGohan tagged from third and slid safely around the tag at home. A two-run single by Tanner Freeman pulled Celina within 5-4.

Keeling, who gave up just six hits and one earned run in five innings, faced just four batters in the fourth inning and sat down St. Henry 1-2-3 in the fifth. McGohan came on and pitched a scoreless sixth.

Siefring, however, couldn't be touched by the Celina offense the rest of the evening. He threw only 93 pitches in the complete-game effort.

"We had one little inning where we had back-to-back errors, but nobody dropped their head. His teammates picked him up," Dorner said. "It was a great team effort. ... Celina's a good ball club. They've got a shot to finish in the top two spots of the WBL. Whenever you can win a game like that, that's a big win for the program."

Celina coach Andy Mikesell said after Monday's game that his team had an opportunity to win but didn't step up and seize it.

"A big thing we preach is you've got to take the game, they're not going to hand it to you," Mikesell said. "We just don't have guys stepping up to take the game. At the plate, we didn't look the best, but Siefring threw well. He got ahead a lot. ... It's just mental with us right now, and it's something we're going to try to figure out over the next week or two."

Celina returns to action tonight at Shawnee.

St. Henry is off until Thursday when the Troy Trojans come to town.