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St. Marys' Brayden Sullivan pitches against Celina at K.C. Geiger Park on Thursday.
ST. MARYS - Celina tallied six hits on Thursday, but St. Marys stacked all four of its hits in one inning.
The Roughriders got a two-run double from Jacob Kaiser and seven strong innings from Brayden Sullivan for a 2-1 Western Buckeye League win in the baseball edition of the Battle of Grand Lake at K.C. Geiger Park.
"It's always great to beat a rival, as far as that goes," St. Marys coach Adam Graves said, adding later, "We hope that this is a building block and not the highlight of our season. We always talk, we want to be playing our best baseball at the end of the year, so we hope this is a building block going forward."
Celina's Brady Steinbrunner got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning before running into trouble again in the third. Easton Craft lined a one-out single to right, Sullivan worked a full-count walk, and Kaiser hit a drive to the gap to bring both home.
Kaiser made it to third but slid off the bag and was tagged out, and after St. Marys (2-3, 1-1 WBL) got two singles, Steinbrunner got a flyout to left to end the inning.
"Jake Kaiser came through with a huge, huge hit for us," Graves said. "That's been our problem, being able to get a big hit when we need it to get some runs in."
St. Marys' Ethan Hollandsworth waits for a pickoff throw as Celina's Max Baumstark dives back to the bag at K.C. Geiger Park on Thursday.
Celina (3-3, 0-2 WBL) got a two-out single from Max Baumstark in the fourth but left him at first. Wes Greber led off the fifth with a single, Ethan Bryant was hit with a pitch, and after a fielder's choice at third, Zach Greber laced an RBI single to right to put runners on the corners.
A wild pitch let Zach Greber move to second and Graves intentionally walked Nick Steinbrunner, and Zander Jones hit a drive to straightaway center that Kaiser caught for the third out.
"We're just struggling to string together hits right now and get some clutch hitting," Celina coach John Dorner said.
Steinbrunner retired the last nine hitters, but the Bulldogs didn't threaten again. Sullivan gave up a single in the sixth but struck out the next three batters, and after a one-out single in the seventh, he got a flyout and a pop-up behind second that shortstop A.J. Dieringer tracked down to finish his win.
"I told him when he came in after the sixth that I was pulling him and he wasn't going to go in in the seventh," Graves said. "I was just messing around with him, and the look on his face, I think if I would've pulled him in that situation he might've taken a swing at me. So we knew Sully was the guy we wanted to have the ball in that situation."
Sullivan racked up six strikeouts and no unintentional walks, and he picked Bryant off first in the third. Sullivan has pitched both Roughrider wins this year.
Steinbrunner pitched all six innings for Celina, walking three batters and striking out seven with four hits. Thursday's defeat is Celina's third of the year with two or fewer runs allowed.
"He did settle in and threw the ball pretty well," Dorner said of his sophomore starter. "Still was a little erratic, missing his spots today, but still pitched well enough to win a ballgame. If you allow two runs, you give your team a chance to win, and we just got to figure it out. Right now we can't hit our way out of a wet paper bag."
Celina is home Saturday for the Bulldog Classic with Columbus Grove and New Haven, while St. Marys hosts a doubleheader with Versailles.
