Weimert sparks Celina

CELINA - After having endured a rough weekend of baseball and facing a tough week ahead, Celina needed something to spark the team as it faced state-ranked St. Henry on a rainy Monday afternoon.

Nash Weimert did his part with a 109-pitch effort and the Bulldogs took advantage of St. Henry's early struggles finding the plate in posting an 8-3 win at Montgomery Field.

The Bulldogs (3-11) had been outscored 23-9 in two losses at the Fort Loramie Invitational on Saturday and face state-ranked Defiance today and then state-ranked Wapakoneta on Friday. The win over St. Henry, ranked fifth in the first Division IV state coaches' poll, provides a needed boost.

"That's that best thing about what Nash did because we need it. This is a tough week for us,"Celina coach Andy Mikesell said. "We were down in options as far as pitching goes. He threw really well."

After St. Henry had scored a run in the top of the first, Bransen Miller led off Celina's part of the inning with a double to right. Grant Wagner bunted for a base hit and Kane Moeller became the first of six Bulldogs that were hit by a pitch as Sam Lefeld plunked him to load the bases. Grant Wagner singled home Miller for Celina's first run. Reid Harter was then hit by a pitch to score Wagner. Kyle Stein followed with a single to score Moeller. Gabe Perry became the seventh straight Bulldog to reach base when he was hit by a pitch, scoring Harter. Weimert grounded into a double play that scored Harter to round out the scoring.

"I like how we're coming out more aggressive (offensively)," Mikesell said. "We're not taking good pitches. They're up there with a purpose: to hit the ball hard. (St. Henry) helped us out some, but we've been in games where we've been on that side."

"Just a frustrating day. We weren't mentally sharp from the get-go," St. Henry skipper John Dorner said. "We hit too many batters on the mound, gave up too many free baserunners. On a dreary day, Celina, which has had a tough season, came out ready to play and swung the bats well. They played a really good ballgame today."

Weimert was sharp on the mound, getting ahead of most batters early in the game. The Redskins collected seven hits in the game, but Weimert allowed just single runs in the third and sixth innings as the Redskins stranded 10 batters on base.

"I like how coach (Mikesell) says I have a rubber arm. If my arm doesn't hurt, just keep going," Weimert said. "I give my teammates credit for helping me keep ahead and battling through to get more insurance runs."

"We'd get one or two outs, then get a couple hits. We couldn't string some hits together," Dorner said. "We had good at-bats, but we weren't mentally on top of our game today."

Celina added two runs in the third as Lefeld was pulled after having faced three batters without getting an out. New pitcher Rylee Deitsch brought Stein home on a wild pitch and one-out later, Caden Highley doubled to score Perry.

Maurer and Stein each had two hits for Celina. Schlarman had two hits for St. Henry.

St. Henry (8-4) hosts Delphos St. John's tonight and then welcomes Versailles to the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Thursday.