After doing some digging (on the Western Buckeye League website), I wanted to point out that the Defiance baseball program has pulled into a tie for the most wins in WBL history with St. Marys.
Defiance is now 254-74 (.774) in 37 seasons in WBL play with 20 championships, including 14 outright. Meanwhile, St. Marys is 254-220 (.535) in 63 seasons with 13 titles, including seven outright.

Check out the new poll question concerning area track!

Sorry, forgot to add some more pictures from the Kenton game, so here they are.

Shh, don’t tell anyone, but here is the story from Tuesday’s Crescent-News (May 11) about Defiance’s come-from-behind victory over Sylvania Southview. Enjoy!

TOLEDO — Dace Kime of Defiance delivered a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Bulldogs to a 4-3 victory over Sylvania Southview in a battle of state-ranked teams on Monday at Fifth Third Field in Toledo, home of the Triple A Mud Hens.
Defiance (23-1) entered the game as the No. 3 team in the state in Division II, while Southview (18-2) was ranked No. 2 in the state in Division I.
The clutch hit by Kime made a winner of reliever Steve Hammersmith, who threw just one pitch in the top of the seventh after the Cougars had rallied for two runs to take a 3-2 lead. Southview tied the game on a suicide squeeze with two strikes, before taking the lead on a passed ball.
“What a great high school baseball game,” commented Defiance mentor Tom Held. “We had a 2-1 lead going into the seventh, but Southview squeezes with two strikes and later scores on a passed ball. Give them a ton of credit.
“But our kids hung in there … they just never give up,” Held added. “We’ve pulled out some big comeback wins against some good teams this year. Our kids just always believe they can win.”
The Bulldogs rallied for the victory with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Shea Murray walked with one out before being lifted for pinch runner Jacob Moore. An infield single by Jacob Moser, allowed Moore to advance to second where he just beat the throw to the bag. Following a strikeout, Defiance senior Alex Nofziger fell behind 0-2, before battling back for a walk to load the bases.
That brought Kime to the plate.
The DHS senior, who started the game and gave up no hits in four innings of work, delivered with a single up the middle that scored Moore and Moser, who scored easily when the throw home was off the mark.
“The at-bat of the game was easily (Alex) Noffy’s there in the seventh,” Held said. “He battled and battled and was able to draw the walk. Then Dace came up and did what Dace does, he finds a way to come up with a clutch hit.
“That’s a very, very talented Southview team,” added Held. “This was a tournament-type atmosphere here today and we got to see a very good pitcher in Vandercook. Our pitchers had to throw against a good lineup up and down the order, and win or lose we would have gotten a lot out of this game today.”
Nofziger finished with a pair of singles to pace DHS.
Defiance returns to action on Friday in Division II sectional championship action against Van Wert at Defiance at 7:30 p.m., following the sectional title game between Bryan and Wauseon.

Linescore
Southview 000 010 2 – 3 3 1
Defiance 001 001 2 – 4 7 2
Records: Defiance 23-1, Southview 18-2.
Winning pitcher: Steve Hammersmith (1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 strikeouts, 0 walks). Others: Dace Kime, Eric Stapleton.
Losing pitcher: Vandercook (7 innings, 4 runs, 7 hits, 8 strikeouts, 3 walks).
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 7 hits) – Alex Nofziger 2 singles. (Southview, 3 runs) – Stambaugh 2 singles.

I know I’m a little late on this, but better late than never. Once again the Bulldogs of Defiance have captured the outright Western Buckeye League baseball title, finishing off 9-0 after a tough 4-1 win over Kenton in 11 innings last Tuesday. Congrats to the Bulldogs!

The Defiance baseballers ran their Western Buckeye League mark to a perfect 7-0 after steamrolling Van Wert on Tuesday, 16-1. Eric Stapleton earned the win for Defiance and the bats kept rolling.
It was a big day for several Bulldogs. Aaron Helland was on base four times and scored all four times, Alex Nofziger had two singles and triple, Dace Kime drove in three, Kurt Belau drove in three, Dakota Westrick had a single and double and Ryan Cordray also had a sinle and double.

The Defiance High School baseball team jumped from No. 15 to No. 3 in the state in Division II in the latest Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association state poll.
DHS is behind No. 1 Walsh Jesuit and No. 2 Jonathan Alder.
The Bulldogs (18-1) will be going for their 38th straight Western Buckeye League win tonight when they host the Van Wert Cougars.

The Defiance High School baseball game at Fairview scheduled for today (April 26) has been postponed because of the weather. No make-up date as of yet, but I will let you know.

Here’s my story and some photos on the Defiance-Wapakoneta Western Buckeye League baseball game that is running in today’s editon (Wednesday, April 21, 2010) of The Crestcent-News.

By TIM McDONOUGH
 mcdonough at crescent-news.com
Call ’em the diehard ’Dogs.
Trailing 8-1 after 31⁄2 innings of play against sixth-ranked Wapakoneta, the Defiance baseball team scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth before exploding for eight runs in the last of the sixth to stun the Redskins 11-8 in Western Buckeye League play.
Defiance (16-1, 5-0 WBL, No. 15 in D-II) scored seven of its eight runs in the sixth with two outs already in the books. Corbin Stykemain came through with a two-run single up the middle that put the Bulldogs in front to stay 9-8, helping DHS to its 37th consecutive WBL triumph.
“After what happened last night (in a comeback win over Tinora) and tonight, I guess we are mentally tougher than I thought,” stated Defiance head coach Tom Held. “I can honestly say I’ve never been prouder of a team in all my 23 years as a coach. The guys didn’t pout or hang it up, there just never was any panic.”
The loss dropped Wapak to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the WBL.
“We felt that we competed today, much better than last night (in a loss to Parkway),” said Wapak mentor Jason Brandt. “We weren’t by any means afraid or intimidated and our kids played hard. We caught some breaks early and we felt we played well enough to win, it just didn’t go our way today.”
The Redskins seemingly had control of the contest after putting up a seven-spot on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth to take an 8-1 lead against Defiance ace Dace Kime.
The Defiance defense, which has been problematic at times this season, committed three errors in the fourth inning, which led to all seven runs being unearned. A bases-loaded triple off the bat of Cale Tabler was the biggest blow of the inning for Wapak.
“The frustrating part is we’re not a team that has thrown the ball around or not be able to play catch, that’s not who we are,” said Held. “We (the coaches) were thinking that maybe we’re a team that’s not mentally tough. The bottom line is we’ve got to get much better (defensively).”
After Defiance fought back with two runs in the fourth on a pair of two-out RBI singles by Aaron Helland and Kurt Belau, who came in to pitch in relief of Kime in the top of the inning, the home team still trailed 8-3 entering the bottom of the sixth.
Wapakoneta starter Dustin Gerlach was hoping to close out the Bulldogs, but back-to-back singles by Stykemain and Ryan Cordray to start the frame chased the Redskin starter. Wapak then turned to ace Josh Vorhees, but Defiance had other plans.
Jacob Moser greeted Vorhees with a bunt single toward third to load the bases with still no outs. But Vorhees got Belau via the strikeout and when Helland hit a sacrifice fly that scored Stykemain, Defiance was trailing 8-4 with two outs. Vorhees hit Alex Nofziger with a pitch to reload the bases, however, bringing Kime to the dish.
Kime coaxed a walk to score Cordray before DH Jake Suman, who came in for Anthony Kidston after he left the game in the first inning with a sore back, was also hit by a pitch. That scored Moser and suddenly it was an 8-6 game. When Dakota Westrick delivered a clutch two-out RBI single up the middle, Nofziger scored, the bases were loaded and the deficit was suddenly one.
That brought Stykemain, who led off the inning, back to the batter’s box. The senior came through again with a single up the middle just under the glove of Wapak shortstop Kaleb Coil. Kime scored and Jacob Moore, who was running for Suman, got to the plate after catcher Mike Bogan couldn’t hold on to the throw from center fielder Greg Stoll.
Just like that Defiance was in front 9-8 and Booster Field was pandemonium.
“Once we started hitting the ball we all felt like nobody was going to get out and we just kept finding holes out there,” noted Stykemain. “When I got back up there the second time he gave me a fastball at the letters and I was able to put it in play up the middle. It felt really great.”
One batter later, Cordray added his second hit of the inning, a triple to deep center field that scored Westrick and Stykemain and just like that Defiance was in control, 11-8.
“Honestly any time you score eight runs against Defiance you ought to win the game,” said Brandt. “I was happy with how we put pressure on them early. We got Kime to throw a lot of pitches and we got him out of the game. When that happens, that’s a great opportunity … we just didn’t cash in.”
Not to be lost in the win was the fact that Belau, who hadn’t pitched in 10 days for Defiance, didn’t allow a run or a hit after coming on in the fourth inning. The righty struck out seven and walked only one in earning the improbable victory.
“When I went in I knew all I had to do was throw strikes,” explained Belau. “My curveball was working well today, I just felt loose and ready to go.”
Brandt was impressed.
“Belau came in and threw the ball really well, his off-speed stuff was incredible,” noted the Wapak mentor. “I don’t think we got on base against him other than a walk. He threw a whale of a game.”
Held thought Belau’s competitive attitude was also a big key in the win.
“Kurt came in like the game was 1-1 … he came in and competed and was mentally tough,” concluded Held. “He came into the dugout with that competitive attitude and it carried over to the other guys.
“Did I think we’d come back and win? Not really. But I was proud of how we were competing and I really think Kurt’s mentality helped turn this around.”
Defiance returns to action on Thursday at Maumee’s Ned Skeldon Stadium when it takes on Toledo Central Catholic at 5 p.m.

Linescore
Wapakoneta 001 700 0 – 8 4 1
Defiance 001 208 x – 11 13 4
Records: Defiance 16-1 (5-0 WBL), Wapakoneta 13-3 (4-1 WBL).
Winning pitcher: Kurt Belau (32⁄3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Dace Kime.
Losing pitcher: Josh Vorhees (1 inning, 6 runs, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Dustin Gerlach.
Leading hitters: (Wapakoneta, 4 hits) – Cole Tabler single, triple 4 RBI. (Defiance, 13 hits) – Dakota Westrick 3 singles; Corbin Stykemain 3 singles, 3 runs; Ryan Cordray 2 singles, triple.