Weyer drives in go-ahead run in Pirates' 9-inning win

FREMONT — Benny Weyer didn't start the game, but he sure finished it. Weyer came off the bench to bat for Perkins in the eighth inning of Thursday night's Division II district semifinal at Ross High School. He popped out, but in the ninth inning he was a hero. With two out and the count full in a tie game, Weyer singled to right field on a pitch on the outside corner to score John Zwiesler from second base with the go-ahead run. Perkins went on to defeat Ontario 8-6 to advance to Saturday's district final against Huron. "I was through the roof. It's another level of excitement," Weyer said. "It felt out of this world — especially since they beat us last year. "I was excited. I know what I'm capable of doing. Anything is possible. It was close, so I went. We practice hitting that outside pitch." Added Perkins coach TJ Blanton: "That's big to come off the bench. When we called his name he stepped up. A huge hit; the biggest of his career." Kash Koch, who singled two batters before Weyer dug in, scored on Braylon Collier's infield hit to give the Pirates a two-run cushion. Zwiesler led off the top of the ninth and reached on an error. He was on second base when Weyer delivered. "I wasn't even looking at the ball and coach Blanton told me to go," Zwiesler said. "He was ready when his name was called." Talon Walton issued a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, then closed out the win with a popout to Collier at shortstop, a fly ball to Logan Lesch in center field and, appropriately, a sharp fly ball to Weyer in right. "I've been catching fly balls for about 12 years," Weyer said. "When it was in the air I said, 'I can get it.'" Perkins got 14 fly-ball outs in the game and committed just two errors to four for Ontario. Ontario, last year's Division II state runner-up, defeated Perkins in nine innings in a sectional final in 2023 before going on a memorable tournament run. It looked like the Warriors would cruise into the district final Thursday when they led 6-0 after scoring three runs in each of the second and third innings. "Early in the season we might've collapsed there and they would've ended it in five (innings)," Blanton said. "But we found a way to put the ball in play in that big inning and return the favor." Ontario took a 3-0 lead on Jaren Holden's bases-clearing two-out triple in the second before benefiting from a couple Perkins errors to extend their lead to 6-0 in the third. From there, Ontario got just one hit in the final five innings as Zwiesler and the Perkins defense were flawless. Zwiesler started on the mound and hung in there when things looked bleak. "After six runs you gotta dig down deep and battle," he said. "That's all you can do at that point." Zwiesler reached the 125-pitch limit with the last of his four strikeouts in the eighth inning. Walton got the last four outs. "He attacked early," Blanton said of Zwiesler. "We knew they were aggressive. We wanted to let our defense make plays and for a run he was able to get them to swing at first or second pitches and that kept us in the game." Nolan Thomas finished with three hits for the Pirates, including an RBI single in the six-run fourth inning. Walton and Collier, who finished with two hits, also had run-scoring singles as the Pirates came back. Walton scored a run with some aggressive baserunning after the ball trickled into foul territory after an Ontario error. Perkins stranded runners in scoring position in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings. "We were waiting for someone to get that big hit," Blanton said. It turned out to be Weyer, who was a popular teammate in the postgame scrum. "We can enjoy this for an hour, then we're focused on Huron," Blanton said. "We'll have some guys ready to go. If we keep swinging the bats and making defensive plays I think we'll be OK." Perkins 000 600 002 — 8 10 2Ontario 033 000 000 — 6 5 4 WP: Walton. LP: Mahon 2B: (P) Thomas. 3B: (O) Holden