Walton's arm, bat, glove lead Perkins past Clyde

WILLARD — Talon Walton couldn't have had a better first inning. The Perkins senior started on the mound Wednesday against Clyde and threw an immaculate inning — nine pitches, three strikeouts. In the bottom of the first, he hit a home run to get the Pirates on the board and jump-start an 8-0 win over Clyde in a Division IV district semifinal. "That's why he's the player of the year in the SBC, player of the year in the district, and in my mind he's a first team All-Ohio player, no doubt," Perkins coach TJ Blanton said. "He's gonna give you his all every time." Walton did not pitch against Clyde in the regular season. The two Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division teams split two games, which got the Pirates' attention. "A lot of people were talking about how we get lucky in these games so hearing that got us fired up," Walton said. Perkins began its march to the 2025 Division IV state championship game at Willard when Kash Koch threw a one-hitter. Walton threw five one-hit innings against the Fliers. He threw 64 pitches — 49 for strikes. His first 14 pitches were strikes. "That was my first," he said of the nine-pitch, three strikeout first inning. "I was dialed in. Felt really good. I got over a week of rest so the arm was feeling really loose." Walton struck out eight and walked only one while lowering his earned run average to 1.19. "Kind of sets the tone. He's been pitching really well and Clyde hasn't seen him yet," Blanton said. "That's why we went with him. Whoever's he's throwing against, he's gonna do that." Reliever Josh Cummings closed it with two scoreless innings, giving up one hit. "Our pitching staff is good. We trust our guys," Blanton said. "If we left Talon in there, he probably throws a one-hitter. Where we need him in the field, it was a good time to get him out of there. "We trust Josh. We let him come in and get two innings in tournament play and were able to save Talon's arm a little bit." Walton made an impact in the field, too. He made a great play on a line drive off Cummings' glove with one out in the sixth and threw to first from his knees. Walton ended the game by getting to a ball up the middle, stepping on second and firing to first for a double play. "I saw a ball up the middle. I slid to try to chest it up and keep it in front," Walton said. "I didn't really take pregame, so I'm not really the best without my pregame. Got it in my glove, stepped on second and threw him out. QB (first baseman Quentin Binette) saved me with a great pick." Perkins, which improved to 20-5-1, scored in each of the first five innings. Walton's home run began slicing and stayed fair, just above the 330 sign in right field. "Down two strikes, I was looking for my pitch," he said. "Saw a fastball and decided to take it oppo. It kept carrying." It was Walton's third home run of the season. "He's got power; he can hit it to all fields," Blanton said. "Unfortunately for him, at our field you're not gonna hit many home runs. Playing at fields like this and others around the area, he'd have a lot of home runs this year. He can absolutely crush the ball." Braxden Martin led off the second with a single and scored on a passed ball. Binette's laser over the outstretched arm of Clyde shortstop Adam Young scored Walton, who singled, and Kash Koch, who walked, to give Perkins a 4-0 lead. Grant Parker led off the fourth with a double. After Walton was intentionally walked, Carter Koch reached out and poked a two-run double down the right-field line. The Pirates totaled nine hits — five of them going for extra bases. Dante Shipp Jr. tripled in the fifth and scored on Bryce Davie's double. "We hit some good, hard balls," Blanton said. "Our mentality is we gotta hit the ball hard and make them make plays. Scoring in every inning is one of our goals and until the last inning we did that." Clyde got its first hit when Dawson Jeffrey doubled in the second. Mason Flewelling added a single in the sixth. "There's been a lot of games this year where we've beaten ourselves with errors and walks and stuff," Clyde coach Jake Strayer said. "Today, I didn't necessarily think that was the case. We couldn't throw a fastball because they were hitting every fastball we threw hard somewhere. "They lived gap to gap. That's the sign of a very good baseball team." The Fliers ended their season with a 7-14 record and a tournament win last week. There was no sneaking up on Perkins after the Fliers edged the Pirates 10-9 on May 8. Clyde starter Colt Flores was relieved by Jonathan Lantz after going 3 1/3 innings. Perkins has won nine of 10 games since that loss to Clyde. "I don't think TJ let them take anybody lightly," Strayer said. "It probably caught their attention and got us some confidence, but that's a very good baseball team and they hit the heck out of the ball today. If you're gonna get beat, that's how you wanna get beat — make the other team beat you." The Pirates, who have played their last five games without senior first baseman Blake Parker, who is nursing a leg injury, will send Kash Koch to the mound in Friday's district final against St. Marys Memorial, which edged Elida 2-1 in 10 innings Wednesday. Clyde 000 000 0 — 0 2 2 Perkins 112 310 x — 8 9 0 WP: Walton. LP: Flores. 2B: (C) Jeffrey; (P) G. Parker, C. Koch, Davie. 3B: (P) Shipp Jr. HR: (P) Walton