Yanks win with z’s
Zimmerman, Zwach lead Yankees to 3-0 win over SaintsDavid Griswold dgriswold@marshallindependent.com
Article Photos
MILROY - Leave it to the Z's.
Milroy's Mahlon Zimmerman pitched six shutout innings and Dean Zwach drove in two runs as the Yankees went on to defeat Sacred Heart 3-0 in a Cornbelt League game Wednesday in Milroy.
"It's very big," said Milroy manager Ryan Rohlik on the win. "Every win is important and we know every time we play Sacred Heart they've got good hitting and whenever Jeremy (Hinderks) steps on the bump, they've got as good as chance as any of winning."
It was destined to be a pitcher's duel with Zimmerman facing off against Saints ace Hinderks, and the outcome was just that.
Milroy scattered six hits on the game, including a clutch two-out double to right-center field by Zwach to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
"Jeremy Hinderks is a great pitcher," said Zwach. "We always have a tough time with him. It was a quick game with only 10 hits, so it was really great to beat a team like that and a pitcher like that."
Milroy's Justin Schlemmer began the inning climbing aboard first base after being hit by a pitch and Dave Schmidt followed with a Texas-league single into shallow right field.
A sacrifice bunt by designated hitter Brian Dolan put both runners in scoring position but Andy Williamson popped out to shortstop to bring Zwach up to the plate with two outs.
"I had seen the batter before and he threw a first pitch fastball, it looked like it was right down the middle," said Zwach. "I said to myself that if he throws it down the middle, I'm going to swing at it."
It was the lone hit on the day for Zwach, but his contribution was more than enough for the Milroy hurler as Zimmerman pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and four walks.
"The first couple of innings my arm was kind of sore," Zimmerman said. "After the second inning it kind of loosened up and it felt pretty good after that."
The Delhi-native overcame his tightness and went on to strike out eight in his winning effort. He began the game with four hitless innings but Sacred Heart's Ryan Hebrink spoiled the no-hitter with a single up the left side. The hit came after Zimmerman began the inning walking his second batter of the game.
"Mahlon's been one of those guys who continues to prove that he's one of the top pitchers on our team," said Rohlik. "Everytime he steps on the bump, we feel like we have a good chance to win and he definitely showed it again (Wednesday)."
With runners on first and second, Hinderks grounded into a double play, which started when Zimmerman fielded the ball up the middle and quickly threw over to second base to start the play.
"It's a big win," Zimmerman said. "You want to keep rolling in the league. Towards the end of the year you want to be playing well."
Sacred Heart still had a scoring threat with a runner on third base but fly-out to Micah Gronli in left field ended the inning and kept the shutout alive.
The Saints followed with a hit in the fifth inning but the Yankee defense was again able to keep Sacred Heart in check by stranding the runner at second base.
"It was good defense," Rohlik said. "We've been struggling with defense a little bit. so it was good to see us have no errors (Wednesday) and play good defense behind our pitching."
Zimmerman closed out his game with two of his eight strikeouts in the sixth and then handed the game over to Nathan Deutz in the seventh.
The left-handed reliever cruised through the seventh and eighth innings with two strikeouts and allowed no runs and in the home-half of the eighth, the Yankees gave him some insurance to work with in the ninth.
Milroy's Matt Bauer doubled to deep left-center and Schlemmer followed with a double of his own to extend the lead to 3-0. A groundout and a strikeout ended the inning, but the damage had been done.
Deutz sat down the final three batters by strikeout to seal the victory for Milroy. Deutz finished with five strikeouts in three innings of relief.
Milroy is now 20-4 overall this season and 13-1 in the Cornbelt, a half-game ahead of Raymond in the standings.
"This is a big win," Zwach said. "It's important because we've only got a couple games left in the league and if we win one or two more, we'll have first place clinched."
The Yankees will continue play next Wednesday on the road against Bird Island.
"For us to sneak out this win, it's definitely a positive," Rohlik said. "We've got some time off here so we can re-coop and refresh and try to get some guys healthy and get ready for the stretch home."
S.H. 000 000 000-0 4 1
Milroy 020 000 01X-3 6 0
SH-Jeremy Hinderks. M-Mahlon Zimmerman, Nathan Deutz (7). WP-Zimmerman. LP-Hinderks. 2B: M-Dean Zwach, Matt Bauer, Justin Schlemmer.
