After eliminating county rival Paulding, Wayne Trace came up short to host Defiance for a runner-up finish in the ACME sectional tournament hosted by the Bulldogs last week.
The Raiders took out the Panthers 15-5 in an elimination game before falling to Defiance 11-0 in the sectional championship. However, the second-place finish put the red, white and blue in the ACME district tournament for what is believed to be the first time in school history.
In Tuesday’s opener, Wayne Trace used an eight-run fifth inning to wrap up the 15-5 victory over Paulding.
The Panthers struck first, scoring twice in the top of the first, before the red, white and blue answered with a four-run second in grabbing a 4-2 advantage.
After the Raiders added three more runs in the third to expand the lead to 7-2, Paulding made things interesting by scoring three times in the top of the fifth to close the gap to 7-5.
Wayne Trace, thought, sealed the victory by plating eight runs in the home half of the fifth to wrap up the 15-5 victory.
Tucker Antoine got the win on the mound for the Raiders, tossing 4-1/3 innings giving up four earned runs, seven hits and four walks while striking out six.
Tyler Davis had a pair of doubles and a triple while scoring twice and driving in four runs. Kyle Slade added two doubles and three runs batted in with Allen Minck totaling two singles, two runs scored and two runs batted in. Lane Morehead chipped in a pair of singles and scored twice as well.
Kane Jones recorded two singles and scored twice for Paulding and Logan Tope added a pair of singles. Jacob Martinez took the loss for the Panthers, allowing six hits, six earned runs and three walks in 4-2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
After getting past the Panthers, Wayne Trace took on the host Bulldogs with Defiance breaking open a close game in the third.
The Bulldogs scored once in the first and twice in the second to seize a 3-0 advantage but scored seven times in the third to push the margin to 10-0.
Defiance got its final run in the bottom of the fourth to wrap up the 11-0 victory.
Cale Winans suffered the loss for the Raiders, surrendering four hits, three runs (one earned) and three walks in two innings of work. Kyle Forrer, Kyle Slade and Jordan Lotz also pitched for Wayne Trace.
Forrer also had a double for the red, white and blue.
