ADNA — Two of the best arms in the area brought the Central 2B League back from spring break at Adna in a low-scoring pitchers’ duel that gave way to extra-innings chaos Wednesday, as Toledo blew one lead and barely held on to a second in a 5-4 win over Adna in nine.
“We had to bring our A game,” Toledo coach Mack Gaul said. “We faltered a bit toward the end, but we recovered and gutted out a win.”
The two sides were set to play a doubleheader — with both games counting toward the C2BL standings — and both sent out their aces to start, with Toledo’s Caiden Schultz and Adna’s Tristan Percival trading blows for six innings.
Schultz struck out 14 batters, while Percival finished with nine punchouts, and the two combined to allow just five hits. Toledo got one run against Percival in the top of the first on a wild pitch, but when the two departed the mound together going into the seventh, things still stood at 1-0.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to Schultz,” Adna coach Thad Nelson said. “He threw a heck of a game, as did Tristan Percival. That’s two of the better pitchers you’re going to see, and what a great matchup.”
Then the bullpens got involved, and things got weird.
The Riverhawks added a run in the top of the seventh when the Pirates tried to throw behind a runner at third base and ended up putting it in the outfield instead. Toledo brought on Ryker Sorenson for the save, but Danner Hoinowski came through in the clutch with a two-out, two-run double to tie the game at 2-2. A pair of walks brought Sawyer Terry to the plate with the winning run on third, but Sorenson got him fishing at a ball in the dirt to send it to extras.
Cameron Nakano spun a scoreless eighth for the Pirates with two strikeouts and an easy tapper back to the mound. After Sorenson matched him, Gaul gathered up his group and made it clear how he expected things to change in the ninth.
“I told the guys after, that’s not what I coach,” He said. “Those were some unacceptable at-bats.
“The next inning, they put up a three-spot.”
Rayder Stemkoski started the rally with a double, and went to third on a grounder. With one out, Rogan Stanley punched a single through a drawn-in infield to put Toledo up 3-2, and four batters later, Eli Weeks blooped a 2-RBI single into shallow right to make it 5-2.
“That’s what I tell the guys: You’ve got to apply the pressure, or you feel the pressure,” Gaul said. “They chose to apply it instead of feel it, and I’m glad they responded that way.”
Adna responded by putting the first two batters of the top of the ninth on, and Gaul rolled the dice. Once the game hit extras, the coaches and umpires agreed to end the day after the one game and play the second on Thursday. With that in mind, he pulled Rogan Stanley — his scheduled Game 2 starter — in for the save situation, doing what he could to steal the win fast.
Rogan gave up two singles to let both inherited runners scored, but after a wild pitch got runners to second and third, he buckled down for the final out — and did so in few enough pitches that he’ll still be able to go Thursday.
Stanley and Geoffrey Glass both put up two-hit games for the Riverhawks, and Hoinowski had two knocks for the Pirates. The two teams combined for more hits in the ninth inning (six) than in the first six total (five).
The win puts Toledo a half game ahead of Adna at the top of the C2BL standings, having played one fewer game.
“We missed some opportunities, and they took advantage of some things we did,” Nelson said. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
