Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout

WAPAKONETA - After falling short in the Division II regional finals to Wapakoneta 6-1 last May, Robert Zeigler has had the Redskins on his mind. The 6-4, 205-pound righty even made a sign to remind himself during the offseason why he needed to work so hard for the 2013 season.

“I was on a mission. From the moment I woke up I was ready to go,” said Zeigler about pitching against Wapakoneta. “Losing to them 6-1 in the regional finals last year, them finishing as state runners-up ... I just really, really wanted to win. All offseason every time I went to throw, to hit, to rep, every time I worked on anything, I looked at that sign, remembered that loss and used it as motivation.”

The clash of Western Buckeye League rivals happened on Friday with the University of Kentucky recruit Zeigler starting the game off strong, striking out nine of the first 14 batters he faced before allowing a hit with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Zeigler went the distance allowing just four runners to reach base (a single, double and two walks), as the Bulldogs (No. 1 Division II) blanked the Redskins (No. 10 Division II) 1-0.

The intimidating righty struck out 14, four of those looking. Zeigler used a heavy fastball that sat in the 89-92 mph range, painting the corners. Robbie also featured a nasty deuce that buckled the knees of the Redskins batters all night. The curve was clocked between 72-78. 

The only quote that needs to be quoted was stated by Defiance head coach Tom Held, "We’ve had some good games in the WBL and we’ve had some great ones (pitchers) at Defiance, but, and this is tough for me say .... but that single-handedly, against a state runner-up team (preseason No. 1 in Division II)  that had all its starters back, that was the best pitching performance at Defiance High School during my time. What an unbelievable performance by Robbie.”

Remember folks this would the likes of Chad Billingsley (Los Angeles Dodgers), Jon Niese (New York Mets), Dace Kime (Louisville), Tyler Burgoon (Seattle Mariners organization), Justin Hancock (San Diego Padres organization) and Anthony Kidston (Louisville) along with plenty of other talented arms.

In the second inning against Wapakoneta senior lefty Johnny Crawford (pictured) the Bulldogs scored the lone run of the game. 

In the top half of the frame, Top Prospect Games participant Derek Turner (pictured) singled, before moving to second on a passed ball. A bunt single toward third off the bat of senior Adam Schaffer allowed Turner to reach third. When DH Austin Yant, Defiance College recruit, reached on a full-count walk, the Dogs had the bases juiced with no outs.

Senior left-fielder Dom Romero stepped in and delivered a slow roller to the Redskins' second baseman Alex Koch, whose only play was to first base. With the defense playing back Turner score, with Schaffer and Yant moving up 90 feet. From there, Crawford got unsigned senior Joe Keween to foul out and Defiance college recruit Drake Jimenez to fly out to right to end the threat.

“Johnny, in my opinion, matched Rob pitch-for-pitch,” Wapakoneta head coach Jason Brandt said. "He gave up a few more hits and had a few more walks, but to Johnny’s credit, once guys got on base he kept them there. When they had the bases loaded we could have had our infield in, but the bottom line is we still needed to score a run. We gave up a run for an out, but the ball wasn't hit hard enough for us to turn two. But again, all the credit goes to Johnny for his performance out there today. He did all he could to keep them off the board.”

The Bowling Green State University recruit went the distance for the Redskins allowing the one run on just four hits, while striking out three and walking five. The talented lefty sat in the low 80s topping out at 84, with good run. Crawford also featured a nice slider that kept the Bulldog hitters off balance.

Wapak did threaten in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Andrew Hines hit a double to right field. After the second out, AJ Etzkorn walked before Zeigler induced Brandon Miller to ground out to Jimenez to end the game.

Defiance has a number of talented underclassmen as well as a couple unsigned seniors, while Wapakoneta has a smooth fielding unsigned senior shortstop, Josh Apple (pictured) that colleges should be taking a look at. Scouting notes will be up later this weekend on these talented players.

Zeigler felt great after the win, but is not about the settle.

“It takes a little bit of pressure off getting the win today, but we’ve got to keep working and keep moving forward,” stated Zeigler. “It was a good win, but we’re not going to celebrate, there’s a lot more baseball to play.”

Defiance returns to action on Saturday at Delta at 11 a.m. and at Southview at 3 p.m. Wapakoneta looks to get on a roll as they travel to WBL foe No. 23 (Division III) Ottawa-Glandorf on Tuesday.

To view scouting notes from this game, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.

Each of these teams have a number of unsigned seniors, please visit the Unsigned Senior Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.

To discuss this game, please visit our partner JJHuddle.

Linescore
Defiance          010  000  0  -  2  4  0
Wapakoneta    000  000  0  -  0  2  0
Records: Defiance 12-0 (3-0 WBL), Wapakoneta 9-5 (2-2 WBL).
Winning pitcher: Rob Zeigler (7 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits 14 strikeouts, 2 walks).
Losing pitcher: Johnny Crawford (7 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 3 strikeouts, 5 walks).
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 4 hits) - Austin Yant double. (Wapakoneta, 2 hits) - Andrew Hines double.