PERRYSBURG — Superb pitching has been Perrysburg’s strength this season.
But the Yellow Jackets are showing they’re more than a one-dimensional team.
They stroked 16 hits — eight coming during their nine-run first-inning — and played well defensively for
a 15-0 win over arch-rival Anthony Wayne in a Northern Lakes League baseball team.
Perrysburg, ranked fourth in Division I, won via the 10-run mercy rule in five innings to improve to 11-0
overall and 4-0 in the NLL.
The Yellow Jackets and Maumee are the only undefeated teams in league play.
AW — which had a chance to pull even with Perrysburg in the loss column in the NLL — fell to 11-4, 3-2.
The game was a rematch of last season’s district final, won by Perrysburg.
“I’m shocked,” Perrysburg coach Dave Hall said. “The kids were ready. The kids were focused. This was a
game they’ve wanted for a long time. Totally unexpected. I thought it would be a one- or two-run game.
I’m very happy.”
Nine different players had at least one hit for Perrysburg, including leadoff hitter Alec Schmenk, who
was 4-for-4 with six runs batted in and four runs scored. He drilled a three-run home run to right to
finish the big first inning.
Ryan Young added a 3-for-3 effort, with a double, an RBI and three runs scored; and Hunter Smith and
Kevin Schenk both singled twice.
Matt Kruzel pitched a two-hitter for Perrysburg, which played errorless defense and made three excellent
plays in the field.
“They kicked our rear ends,” AW coach Mark Nell said. “They were mentally tougher than us. They’re a
better team than us right now and they’re just better than us.”’
The first 10 Perrysburg hitters reached on eight hits and two walks in the opening inning. The Yellow
Jackets’ first out came when their seventh-place hitter was tagged out after rounding second base too
far on Young’s single.
Schmenk lined the first pitch of the inning to right field for a single and took third on a wild pickoff
throw. He scored on Matt Garbig’s single.
Kruzel’s single and Zach Kolvey’s walk loaded the bases, and Matt Slocum walked to force in Garbig for a
2-0 lead.
Steve Slocum’s double scored Kruzel and Kolvey, while Smith’s single brought in the Slocums for a 6-0
lead. Young and Kevin Schenk, who singled, scored on Schmenk’s homer, his second hit of the inning.
“To start the game off with a hit really got us going,” Schmenk said. “It kind of calmed us down. We
really didn’t have butterflies, but it’s a big game and you want to start off right.”
The Yellow Jackets, playing their third game in as many days after playing just once in each of the last
two weeks, hit the ball consistently hard. They added two runs in the third and four runs in the fourth.

“This is the first time we’ve played three games in a row and that helps,,” said Hall, whose team is
hitting .332 and scoring 7.0 runs per game. “It was a day conducive for hitting. It’s tough for hitters
to play once a week and getting 12 at-bats finally in a row, some of our kids started hitting the ball
hard.”
Perrysburg’s defense shined in the first after AW’s Matt Olsovsky led off with a walk. The next hitter
bunted into a double play, with Kruzel throwing Olsovsky out at second, and shortstop Schenk then
throwing to A.J. Stockwell at first for the second out.
The left-handed Kruzel then retired the final batter of the inning on a grounder to second and struck out
the side in the second. He didn’t allow another batter to reach base until a two-out walk in the third.

“(The double play) definitely settled me down,” said Kruzel, who is 3-0 and hasn’t allowed a run in 20
innings. “After (the second inning), I felt like this was my game. It’s always fun to pitch behind a
nine-run lead. I went out there and threw strikes. I had my off-speed pitches working and I had a great
defense behind me.”
AW’s first hit was Olsovsky’s double to center after the two-out walk in the third. Perrysburg’s center
fielder originally broke in on the ball, but couldn’t recover after realizing the ball was over his
head.
Schmenk made a diving backhanded stab of a liner up the middle and then flipped to Schenk for a force
out, the second out of the fifth.
The game ended when right-fielder Young threw an AW runner out at the plate.
The shutout was Perrysburg’s eighth of the season, tying the school record.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a big deal, but if you can get it, you get it,” Kruzel said of the shutouts. “If you
go out there and pitch as best you can and you get it, you get it.”
Perrysburg visits sixth-ranked Vandalia Butler today for a doubleheader.
PERRYSBURG 15, ANTHONY WAYNE 0
AW 000 00 — 0 2 1
PERRYSBURG 902 4X —15 16 0
BATTING LEADERS
HITS —(AW) Olsovsky 2; (P) Schmenk 4, Young 3, Smith 2, Schenk 2, Garbig, Kruzel, Grieselding, Kolvey, S.
Slocum. 2B — (AW) Olsovsky; (P) S. Slocum, Young. HR —(P) Schmenk. RUNS — (P) Schmenk 4, Young 3, S.
Slocum 2, Garbig, Kruzel, Kolvey, M. Slocum, Smith, K. Schenk. RBI — (P) Schmenk 6, S. Slocum 2, Smith
2, Young, M. Slocum, Kruzel, Garbig, Grieselding, SB —(P). SAC FLY — (P) Kruzel. HBP —(P) Kolvey (by
Lindke). DP — Perrysburg 1. DP — AW 4, Perrysburg 4.
PITCHING SUMMARY
IP H R ER BB K
Anthony Wayne
Olsovsky (LP)
0 3 5 5 2 0
Lindke 3 9 6 5 0 1
Bridges 1 4 4 4 1 1
Olsovsky pitched to 5 pitchers in the first.
Perrysburg
Kruzel (WP) 5 2 0 0 4 7