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Celina's Austin Siefring slides safely into third base as Minster's Louis Magoto reaches for the ball in the second inning at Montgomery Field on Wednesday.
CELINA - It took Minster three tries to find a pitcher who was throwing strikes Wednesday night, and by that point the damage was done.
Celina capitalized on nine walks in the first three innings to erase a 3-0 deficit and went on to a 5-3 win in an ACME baseball game at Montgomery Field.
"That kept us in the game," Celina coach Bill Rockwell said.
Minster (4-3) out-hit the Bulldogs 8-5, but Celina's trio on the mound - starting pitcher Cohen Harter and relievers Brodee Schulte-Arnold and Chance Miller - didn't give up a walk and stranded four runners in scoring position.
"We gave up three in the first inning, and then we were able to battle and keep them there for the rest of the game," Rockwell said. "That was a real big positive. Cohen Harter pitched well, Brodee Schulte-Arnold pitched well when he came in, and then Chance closed the door."
After giving up three runs in the first inning, Celina's Cohen Harter held Minster to one hit over the next four.
The trouble for Minster started with two outs in the bottom of the first when starter Louis Magoto's control evaporated. Magoto missed 12 of 16 pitches and walked three straight batters, and Miller watched the first four pitches before lashing a ground ball past diving shortstop Reese Beair for a two-run single to cut the deficit to one.
Magoto got Harter to look at strike three with a full count, but reliever Rylan Edwards fared little better after taking over to start the second. Edwards walked four batters and gave up a single, but held Celina (4-2) to one run after getting an out on the base paths and a fielder's choice to leave the bases loaded.
Then in the third, Edwards walked the first two batters before coach Jay Eilerman brought in Andrew Wiss from first. Wiss retired Miller on a fielder's choice, but Harter hit a liner that dropper past Beair to score the go-ahead run.
Minster shortstop Reese Beair reaches out for a ground ball up the middle against Celina.
"The funny thing is, we preach that we're looking for fastballs that we can drive early in the count," Rockwell said. "Especially with ACME season, that's what we want to get better at: driving fastballs, hitting gaps, getting something early in the counts. I think what happened was, when guys aren't around the plate, there's not a whole lot you can do about that."
Wiss stopped the bleeding, striking out Braylon Steinbrunner and getting Austin Siefring to ground out to end the inning. After a 1-2-3 fourth, he gave up a leadoff double to Schulte-Arnold, who scored when Logan Sapp hit a grounder to first and reached as Magoto couldn't find it in his glove.
On the mound, meanwhile, Harter shut down Minster's lineup after getting tagged for five hits and three runs in the top of the first. Magoto hit a one-out double in the third and Beair got on with a two-base error in the fourth, but Harter stranded both, then set the Wildcats down in order in the fifth to end his day.
"That was pretty impressive, actually, to give up four or five hits and three runs in the first inning and settle back in," Rockwell said. "The difference was, he was able to start getting ahead of hitters. Even though he struggled a little bit with the off-speed today, he was still able to battle, throw strikes, and get guys to get outs."
Schulte-Arnold came on and pitched a scoreless sixth. Miller took over for the seventh and got the first two outs before Devin Metz beat out a slow grounder along the third base line and Hayden Linn singled to center to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
Miller got Jackson Corona to chop a grounder to short, where Schulte-Arnold charged the ball and made the throw in time for the final out.
Magoto and Linn had two hits apiece for Minster, which gets back in action today with a trip to St. Henry while Celina hosts New Bremen.
