TONTOGANY — Michigan State-signee Joseph Dzierwa pitched a complete game one-hitter as Otsego baseball opened the season Wednesday with a 6-0 win over Miller City.

Dzierwa, a 6-foot-7, 175-pound southpaw, struck out 11, walked two and pitched a perfect game through three innings.

Only a slow rolling infield hit by Miller City senior Evan Niese in the fourth inning kept Dzierwa from tossing a no-hitter in his season debut.

Dzierwa, who threw 88 pitches through seven innings, was the reason at least two Major League Baseball scouts were at Otsego High School videoing his delivery before the game began.

“I thought he did really well,” Otsego coach Chase Welker said. “That’s what we have come to expect from him. We know he’s going to have a solid outing every time.”

The only issue was Miller City batters decided to change their approach after the first time through the lineup. Walker and Dzierwa changed their approach, too.

“Late in the game we started throwing curveballs first pitch, so that changed things up a little bit,” Dzierwa said. “I think it worked out pretty well. We got that one guy (No. 3 hitter, senior Joe Deitering) on three pitches on curve balls.”

Welker added, “I thought he had good command and was able to mix in his pitches well, especially after that first time through the lineup.

“You could tell they were starting to sit on his fastball, so we were trying to mix up how we approach hitters and keep him off balance. I thought he did a great job keeping them off balance.”

Miller City did get four runners in scoring position, one after an Otsego fielding error on a pop fly to shallow right field in the seventh. It was Otsego’s only error.

“I thought we played pretty clean defensively, which is not difficult to do when Joe is up there mowing through guys,” Welker said.

Dzierwa added, “I think we played well, but we have a lot of things to work on though.”

Dzierwa also helped get the offense in gear, in a nontraditional way. He went 0-for-2, but twice was hit by a pitch.

The first time Dzierwa was struck, the bases were loaded, resulting in sophomore Tyler O’Brien, who was also hit by a pitch, to be forced in scoring the game’s first run in the second inning.

Dzierwa was struck again in the batter’s box in the fourth inning. With two outs, Dzierwa stole second and third, and scored on a throwing error by Deitering, the Miller City catcher, putting Otsego up 2-0.

Dzierwa managed the entire trip around the bases while Otsego sophomore Cohen Feehan was the plate. Feehan would reach base on a walk, but was caught stealing second on a throw by Deitering for the third out.

Otsego scored three times in the fourth as sophomore Jaxon Jeremy doubled over the center fielder’s head, and O’Brien and senior Chase Helberg both had base hits to center to lead off the inning.

Jeremy knocked in Helberg, senior Max London knocked in Jeremy with a base hit to left, and O’Brien scored on a grounder to second by junior Gabe Kelly.

Jaxon went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and he was hit by a pitch and senior Devin Coon had a base hit to left in the second inning.

The Knights finished with seven hits and took advantage of two Miller City errors. However, Otsego left eight runners stranded on base.

“Offensively, we have to do a better job executing when we get guys in scoring position,” Welker said. “There were a lot of (good) innings, and we only scored a handful. Overall, a win is a win and I’ll take it, but we have things we can work on.”

Junior Thomas Weis started on the mound for Miller City, striking out two, walking two, hitting four batters, allowing two hits and one earned run through four innings.

Senior Caleb Warnimont and sophomore Brent Koenig combined to pitch the final two innings in relief for the Wildcats, striking out two, walking one, giving up five hits and five earned runs.