The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

POMEROY – The Dayton-Waitsburg baseball team traveled to Pomeroy on April 5 for what turned into a pitchers' duel that took the game into extra innings. DW prevailed, 1-0 after a wild ninth inning.

D-W struggled at the plate, always seeming to hit the ball to a fielder. The team had only one hit through eight innings. Pomeroy tallied six hits, but was unable to score.

The game remained scoreless until the ninth inning, when Brandon Boudrieau was hit by a pitch, taking one in the knee. Josh Hartwell then got DW's second hit, with a bunt, sending Boudrieau to second base. A double steal put the runners at second and third. With Gradwohl at the plate, Pomeroy's catcher tried the throw down at second where Hartwell had a huge lead. With heads up running, Boudrieau scored the winning run.

Although Pomeroy had a hit in the bottom of the ninth, they were unable to capitalize on it.

DW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -- 1 run 2 hits 2 errors

Pomeroy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0 runs 6 hits 3 errors

Pitchers- DW: J. Dunn, Gradwohl (4), Helm (8). Pomeroy Heytvelt, Gwinn (4)

Hits- DW: B. Miller, J Hartwell. Pomeroy: R. Wolf 2, J. Gwinn, C. Gingerich, O. Morfin, G. Shuroff

DeSales 11, 4; DW 4, 6

On Saturday, after a two-hour rain delay in Dayton, DW and DeSales split a double-header

In the first game, pitcher Jacob Dunn threw hard but struggled early on. DeSales took advantage of walks, hit by pitches and good hitting to beat the home team 11-4.

"Dayton bats were not on fire, but when contact was made the ball always seemed to go to an occupied space," said Dayton Coach Shane Loper. "Conversely, DeSales seemed to always put the ball where Dayton was not.".

DW started behind and never caught up. Many errors plagued both teams, perhaps due to the wet conditions. DeSales' Jones threw a good game and Holtzinger performed well in his finish. Dunn threw eight strikeouts in the game, but the four runs off Helm in the seventh put DW too far behind.

DeSales  0 5 0 1 0 1 4 -- 11 runs 9 hits 4 errors

DW  0 0 0 3 1 0 0 -- 4 runs 7 hits 5 errors

Hits: Dayton-Waitsburg- J. Hartwell, J. Dunn 2, A. Loper (double), J. Dieu 2, B. Miller

DeSales- B. Holtzinger (2 doubles), L. Jones, J. Kohler, Wahl, C. McCaw, M. Miedhemm, M. Buckley 2

RBI's:  J. Dunn 1, A. Loper 2, B. Miller 1, C. McCaw 5, B. Holtzinger 3, M. Buckley 1, M. Meidhemm 1

Pitchers: Dayton-Waitsburg: J. Dunn (started) LOSS 8Ks      J. Helm (closed in the 6th) 1Ks

DeSales: L. Jomes (started) WIN 4Ks; B. Holtzinger (closed in 7th) 1Ks SAVE

DW: Eight strikeouts by Dunn, double by Loper, 2 singles by Dieu; DeSales: Double by Holtzinger, McCaw five hits, two singles by Buckley.

In the second game, Kyle Gradwohl came out hurling, with a blistering fast ball that struck out two of four batters in the first inning, then fanned all three batters in the second.

In the bottom of the first, Helm and Philbrook each reached base on errors, with Gradwohl hitting a single to bring them both in, putting D-W ahead by two. In the second, Ashton Loper and Cade Branson reach base with singles, but a strikeout finished the inning leaving two stranded.

In the third inning for D-W, Helm reached first on an error. Philbrook followed with a single, and Dunn crushed a triple to score two more runs. Loper laid down the bunt for the squeeze play to score Dunn from third.

With one down and a pitch count of 3 and 1 in 6th inning, Gradwohl reached his 105 pitch-count limit. Loper relieved Gradwohl from first base. With help from J. Helm at third base, two grounders were played effectively to end the sixth. 

Loper shut down Pomeroy in the seventh to end the game.

DeSales    0 0 3 0 1 0 0 -- 4 runs 1 hit 5 errors

DW   2 0 4 0 0 0 -- 6 runs 6 hits 3 errors

Hits:    C. Philbrook, K. Gradwohl, J. Dunn (triple), A. Loper 2, C. Branson, Kohler (double), Buckley (single)

RBI's:    K. Gradwohl 2, A. Loper 1, J. Dunn 1, Kohler (3)

Pitchers: Dayton/Waitsburg: K. Gradwohl (started) WIN  8Ks  A. Loper (closed in the 6th) 1Ks SAVE

DeSales: B. Holltzinger (started) LOSS 8Ks