Cavs hold off Cards

COLDWATER - Reece Dellinger wasn't able to finish off the no-hitter Tuesday afternoon, but he was able to secure Coldwater a share of the Midwest Athletic Conference title.

Ben Blickle beat out an infield single to lead off the seventh for New Bremen's lone hit, but he was the only baserunner of the day for the Cardinals, who weren't able to come back from a deficit incurred back on April 20 as Coldwater won 2-0 in a suspended MAC baseball game at Veterans Field.

"It's an MAC title," Coldwater coach Brian Harlamert said. "We've got one more game to play, but we have a guaranteed tie, and if we win on Thursday against Parkway, it's outright. That's what we want."

Picking up in the top of the fifth, Dellinger needed just 32 pitches to retire the nine hitters he faced on Tuesday, striking out the side in the sixth. After throwing four hitless innings and allowing just two walks in the first half of the game, he looked just as dominant after the break.

"In a shortened game like this, it's a challenge when you're facing a guy on the bump like he is," New Bremen coach Chad Wells said.

After fouling off a pitch and taking a ball, Blickle started the seventh with a weak ground ball into no-man's land in the left side of the infield. Dellinger came off the mound and fired it to first, where it skittered away from first baseman Luke Sudhoff too late to matter.

Unfazed, Dellinger induced two more slow groundouts that turned into outs, allowing Blickle to move to third with the tying run at the plate, then struck out catcher Vince Hulse on four pitches. The last pitch got away from Coldwater catcher Myles Blasingame and rolled forward to the right of home plate, allowing Hulse to make a break for first base, but Blasingame barehanded the ball and Sudhoff reached out to snare the throw in time for the final out.

"Reece was throwing pretty good on a cold night back in April, and he came back today and he was fresh, ready to go," Harlamert said. "What was it, five strikeouts in the nine outs he had to get?"

New Bremen pitcher Mitchell Hays needed more time to settle down, missing the plate on eight straight pitches after play resumed to put the first two batters on. But once he locked in and started to get ahead in the count, he was nearly as sharp.

After a strikeout, the Cavaliers attempted a double steal and speedy shortstop Zack McKibben was gunned down at third base for the second out before Hays got Sudhoff looking to end the inning.

"Being aggressive on the bases with McKibben and Blasingame running, their guy threw a good ball at third base and got him out," Harlamert said. "Keep playing hard and being aggressive, that's what we've got to do."  

Hulse's throw to catch McKibben was just one of a number of fine defensive plays for New Bremen both before and after the suspension. In the fourth, just before the game was suspended, Hulse corralled a pair of wild pitches and threw out runners trying to score, and in the sixth, second baseman Kyle Tenkman made a diving catch on a sinking line drive to end the inning.

"They were playing for something today," Wells said. "So, it's a good sign of things to come."

Coldwater's two runs came in the first two innings. McKibben led off the game with a single and and scored on an error, and in the second, second baseman Adam Hrycko led off with a walk and scored two batters later on an RBI single from Josh Kaup.

Hays just gave up one hit from there and stranded baserunners in the final three innings to keep the deficit to two. With Dellinger on the mound, that was all the Cavaliers needed.

"Dellinger threw a really nice game," Wells said. "Hats off to him."

New Bremen, which has never won a conference title, still has a chance at a share if Coldwater loses its MAC finale against Parkway on Thursday. The Cardinals will play Spencerville that day in their second-to-last game before the tournament.