Walton gets some help in Perkins' regional semifinal shutout

BOWLING GREEN — Baseball math is easy enough: If you don't give up a run, you win. On a day when the wind blowing in, Perkins posted its third straight tournament shutout, defeating Van Wert 3-0 in a Division IV regional semifinal Tuesday. The Pirates used some small ball and timely defense to earn another trip back to Warren Steller Field for Wednesday's regional final. Talon Walton threw a five-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking six and the Pirates (22-5-1) prevailed as Van Wert stranded 11 runners. "That's not ideal at all," Walton said. "Normally I throw strikes, but I was a little off today. The defense played good and we got it done. "As long as they don't score runs it's impossible to lose the game. That's our mindset." The senior right-hander threw 124 pitches and struck out designated hitter Cam Werts to end the game. "Both teams left a lot of runners on base (Perkins stranded 10)," Perkins coach TJ Blanton said. "Van Wert played really well. They got some traffic on the bases, but Talon was a bulldog. He didn't let them cross the plate and that's kind of our starting pitchers' mentality right now. "They don't want to let in a run and so far in this tournament they haven't. He gave it his all. He was maxed out at the end. That was his last hitter. To pull through with a strikeout was huge." With a tight strike zone, both pitchers hit some speed bumps. Van Wert starter Conner Harris walked three in the third to help Perkins grab a 1-0 lead. Walton singled with one out and scored on a wild pitch. With two out and the bases juiced, Quentin Binette crushed one to left field, but Brayson Davis scurried back to make the catch. "That was an absolute monster shot," Blanton said. "If there was no wind that's probably a grand slam." Van Wert left the bases loaded in the top of the third. In the top of the fourth, Perkins center fielder Bryce Davie turned in the defensive play of the day. With two on and two out, Finley Dickinson singled to center. Wyatt Scott, who led off with a walk, rounded third as Davie got to the ball. He launched a throw all the way to the plate and catcher Carter Koch caught it before moving about seven feet to his left to make the tag that kept Van Wert (15-13) off the scoreboard. "I knew I couldn't get there from the start so I grabbed the ball and I saw that he was rounding third," Davie said. "Right when I threw it I knew he was gonna be gunned out. Congrats to Cart for the good tag. It was a little offline. "That got our momentum going. We ended up scoring (the next inning). Good job by Talon. He threw a lot of pitches and dug out of a lot of innings." Added Walton: "I was backing up home watching the whole thing. I saw a dart and Carter had a good tag. He crawled over there and got the tag down." Perkins scored in the bottom of the fourth after Grant Parker reached on a one-out infield single. Davie added a bunt single and Parker scored on an error. The Pirates added a big insurance run in the sixth without the benefit of a hit. Davie led off and reached on an error. He stole second and was bunted to third by Walton. Carter Koch followed with a bunt of his own and Davie scored to make it 3-0. "If Bryce got on we were gonna bunt, bunt," Blanton said. "Talon was crushing the ball, but it was hanging up in that wind. In those conditions we had to scrap to get that one run. We felt pretty good at 3-0 with the wind helping us defensively as well." Van Wert put a runner on in the seventh after Perkins' only error, but Walton got two fly balls and a strikeout to finish it. "It doesn't have to be perfect; it just has to matter," Blanton said. "Execute and put it up on the scoreboard. The zone was tight both ways. It was a hard day to be a pitcher. There were a lot of 50-50 calls. We got some of those; we didn't get others. But it was consistent both ways." The Pirates, who have outscored three postseason opponents by a 17-0 total, will play Marengo Highland for a spot in the state semifinals. Highland knocked out Lake 5-1 in Tuesday's first regional semifinal and looked very adept at playing the small ball game. "They're comfortable playing that and we're comfortable defending that," Blanton said. "That's all we work on defensively in tournament play. Small ball practice is pretty much a half hour of our practice every day." And the wind? "Tomorrow that wind might be blowing out 20 miles per hour at The Stell," said Blanton, who played for BGSU. "I did it for four years. One day you hate to be a hitter, the next day you wake up in the morning and absolutely love it." Van Wert 000 000 0 — 0 5 3 Perkins 001 101 x — 3 5 1 WP: Walton. LP: Harris. 2B: (P) Davie