OTTOVILLE — Ottoville head baseball coach Tony Castronova felt that Tuesday’s home game versus Jefferson was a huge one for his young squad.

The Big Green — aided by nine walks from three Wildcat pitchers — came through with what the doctor ordered; a 4-2 non-conference victory on a bright but brisk afternoon at Ottoville Community Park.

“This was so big for us. We had lost four in a row: 6-3, 4-2, 2-1, 4-2; and we were in all of them,” Castronova explained. “We needed a win badly and to get one against a quality team like Jefferson makes it even more important. We have a lot of youngsters out there that needed to put a whole game together.”

In the third-base dugout, Jeffcat coach Troy Montenery was disappointed.

“We had played two very good games before this and you figure you keep that going. Then we walk six of their first nine batters,” he began. “When you face a young team and let them hang around, they gain confidence. Pretty soon they’re making diving catches in the outfield and playing good ball.”

Jefferson (3-4) took a 1-0 lead in the first off Ottoville starter Andrew Koch (1-1; 5 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 2 walks, 6 Ks; 82 pitches, 55 for strikes). Ryan Kortokrax led off with a ground single to right center. An out later, Josh Miller (2-for-3) was hit by a pitch. Adam Kraning singled to right, getting Kortokrax home; however, Koch cut off the throw home and nailed Miller trying for third.

The wildness Montenery was talking about came in the home half of the first against Matt Antalis (0-1). Matt Niemeyer walked but was picked off base by Antalis on a rundown. An out later, Koch walked, Jordan Schimmoeller singled to left and back-to-back bases-on-balls to Colbey Basinger and Matt Honigford tied it at 1. However, the Big Green (2-5) left the sacks full (9 for the contest).

Jefferson made it 2-1 in the second. With one gone, Craig Carder got on via an error. He stole second and consecutive wild pitches got him across. Matt Gerdeman (walk) and Antalis (single) got on but both were left on base (10 for the game).

Ottoville got two in the home half. Alex Odenweller and Jacob Landon walked to lead it off, chasing Antalis for Carder. Niemeyer sacrificed them both up. David Wurst grounded out to second to plate Odenweller. A fielding error on Koch’s ground ball plated Landon for that 3-2 lead.

Ottoville got runners to first and second (Odenweller and Lee Altenburger) with one out in the third but a double play got Carder out of the jam.

Jefferson got runners to second (Gerdeman) and third (Carder) in the fourth but Koch fanned the next two batters.

The Red and Black left two runners on in each of the next two frames.

“That was the struggle tonight; we couldn’t get the big hit after the first two innings,” Montenery added. “We had no trouble getting runners on and in scoring position; we just didn’t come through at the plate. The fortunate thing about baseball is that you don’t have a lot of time to dwell on a loss like this; we have two more and possibly a third game yet this week.”

The Green and Gold got a huge insurance run in the fifth. Schimmoeller singled up the gut and Colin Rue pinch-ran. Basinger singled to right to chase Carder for Damon Joseph. Honigford (who relieved Koch in the sixth) sacrificed the runners up. Altenburger was intentionally walked. Odenweller delivered a fly ball to left deep enough to get Rue home for the 2-run edge.

Miller led off the top of the seventh with a liner into right but a fly ball, a line drive to right caught by a sprawling Logan Kaverman and a groundout finished the game.

“Andrew did a whale of a job for only his second start since Little League. Matt did a nice job for a freshman in that situation,” Castronova added. “We played a solid defensive game and made some tough plays as well. We started two freshmen, a sophomore and three inexperienced juniors (from last spring) tonight; it was good to see us play like we did.”

Both teams are on the road tonight: Jefferson at Perry and Ottoville at Bluffton.