Siefring pitches 'Skins past 'Riders

ST. MARYS - St. Henry's Marc Siefring stepped onto the mound for just his second varsity appearance on Monday night.

He made it a memorable one.

Siefring hurled a complete-game, two-hitter - sparing just 81 pitches - as the Redskins defeated St. Marys 3-0 at K.C. Geiger Park.

"We've been preaching to the guys about pounding the strike zone and getting strike one on the first pitch," St. Henry John Dorner said. "The other day, Daylon Lange threw an awesome game. He had 20 first-pitch strikes out of 27 batters. Marc one-upped him today and had 21 first-pitch strikes to 27 batters. That really keeps the defense sharp and limits the number of pitches. He threw an 81-pitch complete game and that's just amazing."

Siefring struck out one and walked one while relying on his defense to keep the Roughriders scoreless throughout the night. St. Marys stranded six baserunners in the game, leaving runners in scoring position in five innings.

"I didn't think he was overpowering necessarily, but I thought he threw the ball pretty well," St. Marys coach Jeff Dieringer said. "It's the type of pitcher that we should be able to put more than two or three hits on the board. But to his credit, especially early on, I thought he had just enough velocity and I thought he commanded his off-speed pretty well."

St. Henry scored its first run in the third and added two insurance runs in the sixth.

Ryan Luttmer hit a one-out single in the third and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Parker Link. Rylee Deitsch followed with an RBI single down the left field line to make it 1-0.

In the sixth, Siefring got aboard when St. Marys committed its fifth error of the night and then was replaced on second by pinch runner Ethan Thieman. After a walk to Jay Knapke, Ryan Bruening bunted for a single. The throw on the play skipped by the first baseman, allowing Thieman to score. Luttmer followed with a sacrifice fly RBI to up the score to 3-0.

"I think we had five runners left on base through three innings, but we still found that one base hit to get that first guy across," Dorner said. "That was key because it does get to be frustrating when you're getting guys on and can't get them to score. Sometimes, it just takes that one key hit. That's what Rylee did. Rylee's been one of our better hitters this year. The top of our order has been doing a great job. That last run with Luttmer hitting a sacrifice fly. … Executing the little things is what wins you ballgames."

Trey Howell gave a quality start for St. Marys, too. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and three runs (one earned) while striking out four and walking three. Wyatt Bailey gave up just one hit over the final 1 2/3 innings for the Roughrider, who committed seven errors in the game.

"Our pitching's been good enough to keep us in games," Dieringer said. "The story tonight is we get guys on base and we're able to bunt them over successfully and then we'd follow with two lackluster at-bats where we don't drive guys in."

Tyler Schlarman had the third hit for St. Henry and ended the game with a diving catch in left field.

Drew Jacobs and Braeden Dunlap both had hits for St. Marys. Austin Wilker added a diving and sliding catch in center during the sixth inning.

St. Henry (3-1, 1-0 Midwest Athletic Conference) hosts Fort Recovery in conference play tonight at Wally Post Athletic Complex.

St. Marys (0-6, 0-2 Western Buckeye League) is also in action tonight, hitting the road to face Ottawa-Glandorf.