Anthony Wayne and Perrysburg eagerly await No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown

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May 8—Save the date.

Perrysburg and Anthony Wayne are going to make up their much-anticipated baseball showdown.

The Generals, the state of Ohio's No. 1-ranked team in Division I, and the second-ranked Yellow Jackets will play on May 17 at Perrysburg after not one, not two, but three games were postponed this week because of inclement weather and poor field conditions.

"You'd think that third time's the charm thing would work, but it didn't," AW coach Mark Nell said. "It's disappointing, but we're going to play the game eventually."

Monday's game was postponed because of rain. The weather cooperated Tuesday, but Perrysburg's Jim Leyland Family Field was saturated with water, making it unplayable.

Rain wreaked havoc again Thursday.

"It's par for the course. It's called spring," Perrysburg coach Dave Hall said. "After coaching 43 years, this is what you expect. Now it's going to be even bigger. It could be for the championship."

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Anthony Wayne entered Friday 16-1 overall and 9-0 in the Northern Lakes League. The Generals' lone loss came to St. John's Jesuit, which is among the others receiving votes in the state poll.

Perrysburg was 18-1 and 9-1 in the NLL, losing 8-2 in its first game with Anthony Wayne. A four-run fifth inning boosted the Generals in the April meeting.

The disappointment from this week's postponements was sweeping, from coaches to players to parents to community members.

"The games were canceled later in the day, so we were mentally getting ready," AW pitcher/shortstop Garret Pike said. "And then, boom, it's canceled. So it was a shot mentally, but seeing the game rescheduled is nice knowing that it will be played."

Pike is among a smorgasbord of Anthony Wayne and Perrysburg players who are atop the NLL statistics. The top four and 12 of the top 15 leaders in batting average attend AW or Perrysburg. The Generals and Yellow Jackets also own five of the top 10 pitchers by earned run average.

Pike's numbers put him in consideration as one of the best players in the state.

In 54 official at-bats, he has 33 hits, 17 singles, eight doubles, two triples, six home runs, 40 runs batted in, and 31 runs. He's hitting .611 with a .667 on-base percentage, and an unheard-of 1.167 slugging percentage.

On the mound, Pike is 6-0 with a 1.00 ERA, striking out 35 batters in 35 innings.

"Whenever we're playing Perrysburg, we know it's going to be a fun, competitive game," Pike said. "That's why you play baseball, for the types of games you have to grind out. We all look forward to the competitiveness and playing your rival in a highly ranked game.

"I remember talking to Ty [Roder] before the season, 'Oh, here's the Perrysburg game.' Ty was talking about wanting to pitch. It's always on the front of our minds: When are we playing Perrysburg? We definitely look forward to it."

Anthony Wayne and Perrysburg have become the gold standard for high school baseball in northwest Ohio.

Since Nell took over at AW in 2001, the Generals and Yellow Jackets have combined for 12 NLL championships, 12 district titles, three state semifinals, and two state runner-up finishes.

Hall, who's in the midst of his 36th season at Perrysburg, and Nell have more than 1,100 wins. Nell owns the upper hand in the rivalry with a 27-21 record.

"This is fun," Hall said. "This is what you play for. In the summer our parents will ask, 'Why are you playing them five, six, seven times?' Because we're the two best and we need to figure out ways to beat them. If you're a competitor, you want to play the best. And that's what we want to do."

The teams' dominance this season has been especially sublime.

AW has won by an average margin of 10 runs — 12-2. The Generals have six shutouts and 11 wins by double digits. They've only allowed 30 runs all season, and eight came in one game.

Perrysburg's average final score is 9 to 2. The Yellow Jackets have four shutouts and 11 wins by double digits. They've allowed 38 runs, with 18 coming during a three-game stretch.

"We look forward to it. Coach Hall loves playing Anthony Wayne," Perrysburg pitcher/center fielder Cam Darrington said. "We play them all the time in [summer league]. We know it's a big game. It usually determines who goes further in the playoffs. It makes us want to work harder. It's one of the biggest games of the year."

Darrington is chasing Pike for NLL honors, batting .463 with one home run, 22 RBIs, and a league-best 15 stolen bases. He's 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 19.7 innings pitched. Darrington's 11 hits allowed is the lowest among NLL starters.

Perhaps a Pike-Darrington matchup will decide the conference in a couple of weeks when the two best teams in Ohio meet again.

"I'm not talking about it to our kids any more than I normally would about Perrysburg," Nell said. "But naturally it creates some excitement. And, hopefully, it creates some excitement for the communities and northwest Ohio. I sure hope we win the rest of our games and it's for a league championship and a whole bunch of people from northwest Ohio go. It's been a crappy year-plus. It'd be a good thing to have with all that's been going in the world. We need stuff like this."

First Published May 7, 2021, 3:07pm