Photo by Sam Thiel Milroy’s Nathan Deutz delivers a pitch during their game against Sacred Heart on Wednesday. Deutz finished with a complete-game outing and struck out 17 in the Yankees’ 7-1 win.

MILROY – Nathan Deutz wasn’t going to let an early deficit get the best of him. In fact, that was all he let up the entire evening.

The Milroy Yankees lefthander was in command all night long, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out 17, as the Yankees cruised to a 7-1 victory over Sacred Heart on Wednesday.

The Saints jumped out to an early lead, using a single and a sacrifice bunt to put a runner in scoring position before an RBI double gave Sacred Heart a 1-0 advantage. Milroy had an answer in the bottom half, however, as Brian Dolan led things off by reaching on an error before Andy Schmidt connected on a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Matt Bauer then brought in the tying run on a fielder’s choice to make it 1-1 after an inning of play.

The second inning was where Deutz really found his command of the strike zone. After a leadoff groundout, Deutz earned back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, maintaining the tie as the Yankees headed into their second at-bat.

Isaac Schmitt led things off in the bottom of the frame with a walk, but Milroy couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity as the game remained tied after two.

Just like he did in the second, Deutz continued his strong pitching performance in the third, as the Milroy starter struck out the side in the frame to bring his total to five consecutive strikeouts on the evening.

The Yankees then came up to bat looking to break the stalemate and did so in a big way. After Schmidt was hit by a pitch with one out, Bauer stepped up and smashed a drive to deep right field for a two-run home run, putting Milroy out in front at 3-1.

Neither team would find scoring in the fourth or fifth innings, but Deutz would add two more to his strikeout total in the top half of each frame to bring it to nine on the game.

The Yankees got an offensive threat going in the top of the sixth, when Riley Carpenter connected on a single and Andrew Mathiowetz reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners with one out. Austin Kretsch then stepped up and hit a bloop single that landed in the short outfield grass for an RBI, making it 4-1 in the process. Milroy then brought in another run when Sacred Heart committed an error on a pickoff attempt, pushing it to 5-1 before Brian Dolan kept things going with an RBI single of his own to make it 6-1. Schmidt then found his way aboard with a single to left to put runners in scoring position with two outs, but Milroy couldn’t get them in, and the Yankees held a five-run lead after six.

After the Saints went down in order in the top of the seventh, Milroy had a chance to add to its lead in the bottom of the frame when Schmitt and Mathiowetz both reached on errors to put runners on first and second with two outs, before Kretsch connected on an RBI single to make it 7-1. Derick Walker was hit by a pitch to load the bases but a strikeout ended the scoring threat for the Yankees.

After a scoreless eighth, Deutz came back out to the mound to finish his outing in the top half of the ninth. And just like he did all game long, Deutz ended things strong, striking out three more to seal the win.

Milroy Yankees manager Ryan Rohlik said Deutz was able to get in the groove right from the start and was very effective in just his second start of the season. Rohlik added that type of efficiency was also seen in full effect on the offensive end as well.

“Nate was on (tonight), literally trying to get in the groove in just the second game he started. We’re trying to bring him along slow after being a closer early on, and just trying to get him in a groove before the playoffs as far as a starting pitcher is concerned. He took it from the first inning; he gets angry when he misses his spots and to have the statline he had was efficient,” Rohlik said. “The guys are excited to play defense behind him, and then offensively, we were facing a good pitcher and we were able to work some at-bats, get Jeremy tired a little bit, and Matt’s two-run home run to give us that 3-1 lead really ignited us.”

Deutz finished the game with 108 total pitches, with only 23 of them being a ball. He said his ability to get ahead of batters in the count and work his pitches around was the key to his outing.

“Well throwing strikes was the main thing; that’s something I pride myself in and even in the first inning, the couple of hits they got were well-hit balls and from there I just settled in and got some first-pitch strikes,” Deutz said. “I tried to maintain that throughout the game as well as mix up the off-speed in there when I got ahead in the count.”

Offensively, Kretsch led the way for the Yankees with a 3 for 4 day at the plate with a double and two RBI while Bauer added a pair of hits, including the homer, while collecting three RBI. Brian Dolan and Eric Dolan also had a couple of hits, while Brian picked up an RBI.

The Yankees (16-4) will continue their homestand on Friday evening when they face the Raymond Rockets.

Milroy Yankees 7, Sacred Heart 1

Sacred Heart 100 000 000 – 1 3 6

Milroy Yankees 102 003 10x – 7 13 2

Hitting: Milroy Yankees (B. Dolan 2-4, RBI; Bauer 2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI; E. Dolan 2-4; Kretsch 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Milroy (N. Deutz 9-1-1-3-1-17).