DELPHOS - Delphos Jefferson right-hander Josh Miller thought his day was done.

As it turned out, he ended up finishing what he started.

Miller tossed the first four innings, then was brought back for the final two frames to preserve an 11-4 victory over Fort Jennings in a nonleague baseball game Saturday.

Miller (4-1) left after four innings and went to shortstop with an 11-1 after logging 72 pitches.

But when reliever Aaron Schuerman gave up two runs in the fifth and loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, the call went back to Miller.

"I didn't think I was going to have to come back in," Miller said. "My arm felt fine. It was nice and warm outside, so that wasn't a big issue. It was a matter of focusing on pitching and getting out of the defensive mindset. It was a little bit of a mental challenge because I'd never done anything like that before."

Miller did give up and RBI fielder's choice to make it 11-4, but closed it out with two shutout, hitless innings. For the day, Miller went six innings and gave up one run on three hits. He struck out six and walked three. Miller threw 104 pitches, 68 for strikes.

"I need to keep my fastball down and throw strikes, then mixing in a curveball every once in a while to keep them honest," Miller said.

Delphos Jefferson coach Troy Montenery said he wasn't trying to save Miller for later this week by lifting him after four.

"With so many games cancelled, we have a lot of pitchers who haven't thrown hardly at all," Montenery said. .... "One thing that worked in our favor (in bringing back Miller) was that he didn't have a high pitch count today."

Delphos Jefferson stands 11-3. Fort Jennings is 6-5.

The Wildcats took the lead to stay in the second inning, 2-1, on an RBI single to right by Sean Fisher.

Fort Jennings' Drew Mesker led off the third with a triple to the center-field fence. Mesker then attempted to score on a wild pitch. But Jefferson catcher Ryan Kortokrax flew back to the fence to get the ball and fired a strike to Miller covering the plate to nail Mesker.

"We practice that every day to run to the backstop, slide in, turn around and throw waist high to the pitcher and repetition makes perfect," Kortokrax said.

Added Montenery, "That play was a real pick me up for us and it seemed to ignite our bats as well."

Kortokrax started the home third with a solo home run to left, his fourth homer of the year. That gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead and they would go on to score nine in the third to open up an 11-1 lead.

For Delphos Jefferson, Cory Bastian was 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Matt Gerdeman was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Schuerman was 2-for-4 and Taylor Hesseling was 2-for-3.

Mesker was 2-for-3 with a triple for the Musketeers.