Bulldogs hold on to beat Panthers

CELINA - Parkway and Celina engaged in a good old pitcher's duel at Montgomery Field on Monday night.

The host Bulldogs were able to score two big runs in the second inning to hold on and beat the Panthers 3-2 in Mercer County ACME baseball action to improve to 4-0 on the summer.

The Celina tandem of Kole Murlin (4 2/3 innings) and Tanner Freeman (2 1/3 innings) combined to strike out nine and limited Parkway to just eight hits in the win.

"Kole pitched well for us. ... He's going to be one our most frequently used (pitchers) this summer," Celina coach Scott Montgomery said. "We need to keep his arm healthy. He got into a jam with the bases loaded and, being it was Parkway's third or fourth time (through the lineup), we thought it would be a good time to bring in a new arm. Tanner closed the door."

"Kole Murlin did a good job keeping us off-balanced early," Parkway coach Brian Schoenleben said. "But we did a nice job bouncing back. A couple of plays, miscues on our behalf, but all-in-all, we got beat by a good Celina team."

Parkway starter Logan Huff scattered three hits and four walks over four innings before reaching his pitch count. Carson Ford only allowed a walk over his two innings.

"Logan did a nice job. I wasn't sure what I would get out of him tonight," coach Schoenleben said. "We brought Carson in and he did a nice job."

The Panthers scored first in the top of the first. With Shay Pond at second and Ford at first, Trace Walls doubled to center. Pond scored, but Celina completed the 8-6-2 relay to perfection as Isaiah Eichler tagged out Ford at the plate to end the threat.

Celina leveled the score in the bottom of the first when Eichler singled with one out, took second on Murlin's single and then went to third when the ball got away from the fielder. Freeman lofted a deep-enough fly to center to score Eichler to tie the game.

In the second, Nate Kirk was hit by a pitch to start the inning. After a pop-out to the catcher, Bryce Monnin and Reid Harter drew walks to load the bases. After Seth Lonsway flew to left for the second out, Eichler singled in Kirk and Monnin to make it 3-1.

"We didn't score after the second inning. Lucikly we held the lead," Montgomery said. "We were swinging the bats, a couple hard hits here and there. Unfortunately, they didn't fall (in)."

After that, Celina was shut down, while Murlin worked in and out of trouble. Parkway left the bases loaded in the second and third innings before Murlin retired the side in the fourth.

Murlin was able to get the first two out in the fifth before Walls singled. Huff and Tristen McKee followed with walks to load the bases. Montgomery called on Freeman to get out of the jam, but he walked Jack Wehe to score Walls. Freeman got out of further trouble by enticing Mason Baxter to ground back to the mound to end the threat.

Freeman got through the sixth relatively unscathed, but Walls got his fourth hit of the game with a single to start the seventh. Huff bunted Walls to second. After a wild pitch moved Walls to third, McKee grounded to Freeman, who looked Walls back to third before tagging McKee for the second out. Wehe ended the game with a routine grounder to short.

"We had bases loaded three times (in the game) and you can't do that," coach Schoenleben said. "You can't do that against any team, let alone Celina. It was two good teams battling it out."

Celina travels to Maria Stein tonight to face Marion Local. Parkway heads home to Don Black Field to face Coldwater.

Note: Saturday's Fortkamp Invitational at Celina will start later than scheduled due to ACT testing. Celina faces Bath at 1 p.m. with Kalida and Bryan playing around 3 p.m. The championship game will now be played at approximately 5 p.m. with the consolation game to follow.