Howell, 'Riders shut down Bulldogs

CELINA - From the second through the sixth innings, Celina and St. Marys engaged in a classic pitcher's duel.

It was the first and seventh innings that made the Roughriders the happier team as they came out of Montgomery Field with a 5-0 win over the Bulldogs in WBL play to snap a four-game losing skid.

Two runs in the first thanks to five base hits gave St. Marys (8-10, 4-5 WBL) enough offense for starting pitcher Dustin Howell, who scattered six hits for the complete-game shutout.

Nathan Wilker led off the game with a single. Drew Jacobs bunted his way on for a hit and Howell drove in the go-ahead run with a single. Chase Roop lofted a deep-enough fly to right to score Jacobs for the second out. The Roughriders were poised to score more with back-to-back, two-out singles by Julius Fisher and Austin Cook to load the bases, but C.J. Kimmel was able to get the final out.

"They hit when they had to," Celina coach Andy Mikesell said of St. Marys.

After that, Kimmel found his mark and kept the Roughriders from adding runs to keep the Bulldogs within shouting distance. After getting five hits in the first, St. Marys was held to just four hits over the next five innings.

"I thought he pitched well," St. Marys coach Jeff Dieringer said of Kimmel. "We hit some balls on the nose that were right at guys that didn't translate into runs."

Meanwhile, Howell was weaving in and out of traffic. Celina had just six hits but took advantage of four walks. The trouble was, the Bulldogs couldn't come up with the clutch hit to bring in a run. Celina stranded 10 runners on base in the game, seven of which were on second or third base when an inning ended.

"We didn't hit when we had to," Mikesell. "I don't have any answers."

In the seventh, the Roughriders, who were reminded of the football team's 28-21 loss to Celina during the Senior Day festivities before the game, added some cushion.

Howell doubled and Roop singled to start the inning. After a fly out, Fisher singled in Howell and Cook followed with a single to load the bases. Mikesell called in Tanner Freeman to try and get out of the jam, but pinch-hitter Logan Dircksen hit a two-run single to make it 5-0 before Freeman could end the inning.

"I thought we were uncomfortable with a two-run lead going to the seventh," Dieringer said. "I wanted them to hang a number. It's great to see us come through with runners in scoring position. That's something we've struggled with."

All that was left for Howell was to preserve the shutout, but Kole Murlin led off with a walk. Howell recovered to get back-to-back outs before Isaiah Eichler singled to put runners on the corners for Kimmel, who grounded to third to end the game.

"He threw strikes and got ahead of guys well," Dieringer said of Howell. "He didn't try to do too much. He didn't try and blow it past anybody. Our defense made some plays to give him some confidence. I'm proud of him."

"Our worst enemy right now isn't the pitcher, it's ourselves," Mikesell said. "We have to get straight mentally to get going Saturday."

Howell, Roop, Fisher and Cook each had two hits for St. Marys.

The Roughriders host Spencerville today before traveling to Bath on Saturday to start the Division II sectional tournament against the Wildcats. Celina's game with Dunbar today has been cancelled. The Bulldogs also open tourney play on Saturday by hosting Toledo Rogers at 11 a.m.