By Dylan Hefflinger

BOWLING GREEN- Ashland defeated Anthony Wayne 2-0 in an epic matchup of two top 10 teams in D-I to advance to the district finals.

Adam Schaly, a Stetson recruit, showed why he is one of the top players in the state, ranked No. 19 in the 2012 class. Schaly held the senior-laden lineup of Anthony Wayne to just three hits. The 6-0 lefty walked three, one intentionally, while striking out 12.

Schaly, who was consistently between 84-86 mph and topped out twice at 88, moved his season to totals to 112 strikeouts in just 54 innings of work. Schaly, who also featured a 2/8 sharp breaking slider that had Anthony Wayne off-balance, has allowed only two earned runs, which puts his ERA at 0.26 and his WHIP at 0.61.

Down 2-0, Anthony Wayne had an opportunity in the bottom of the seventh as a walk and hit-by-pitch put two on with only one out. A strikeout to the nine-hole hitter brought to the plate University of Toledo recruit Deion Tansel. The AW lead-off man hit a dribbler to third that looked like it would load the bases. However, the runner moving from second to third ran into the third basemen and runner's interference was called to end the ballgame.

The Arrows scored their first run in the 5th inning as senior Brock Landrum reached base on an error by the shortstop Tansel who made three web-gems on the night. A single by junior Gabe Bradshaw put runners on first and second and lead-off hitter Aric Harris hit a grounder in the hole between short and third, Tansel slid to make the backhanded stop, but rushed the throw to second for a miscue that scored Landrum to put Ashland on top 1-0.

The Generals tried to answer the run in the bottom half of the frame, but had their best opportunity halted by an outstanding throw from the left fielder Landrum. A single by opposing pitching Jake Chipka led off the bottom half of the 5th, followed by a sacrifice bunt. A strikeout by the nine-hole hitter brought Tansel to the plate but Ashland decided to walk Tansel bringing up Josh Meyers. The senior ripped a shot to left field, but Landrum came up with the ball quickly and threw a bullet home to punch out pinch runner sophomore Josh Schwerer.

Ashland added an insurance run in the seventh as Harris ripped a two-out single to right. Tyson Vogel followed with a single to put runners on first and third and Schaly stepped to the dish and delivered an RBI single to put the Arrows up 2-0.

Chipka threw an outstanding game for the Generals, holding Ashland to just two runs on seven hits and two walks, while striking out seven. The senior right-hander was consistently 78-83 on the fastball reaching as high as 85, but relied on off-speed pitches he threw 65 percent of the time. The off-speed pitches ranged from 54-69 mph.

Anthony Wayne finishes the season ranked 6th in the final poll, with a 23-3 mark for head coach Mark Nell.

No. 4 ranked Ashland (21-4) moves on to take on No. 28 ranked Maumee (18-9) on May 19th at 1:00 p.m. at Carter Park in Bowling Green for the district championship.