BUCYRUS — Pitching depth in high school baseball is a premium. Having more than one or two quality starters is a coach’s dream.

That has been the one strength of Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley’s Redmen all year.

Maudsley used three pitchers who combined to shut out Willard, 8-0, in the Division III sectional semifinal at Veterans’ Memorial Field Wednesday.

“One of our strengths is our pitching,” Maudsley said. “We just have to hit the ball like we did tonight, and we’ll be OK. If we score eight runs, we’ll be pretty good.”

The Redmen banged out 10 hits, six of which came in the first two innings and led to a four-run second inning. It was a blow from which the Flashes couldn’t recover.

“Sometimes, we’re throwing strikes and making errors behind,” Willard coach Bill Robinson said. “And sometimes we’re not throwing strikes and it’s hard to defend walks.”

Bucyrus (9-16) took advantage of three walks and two hit batters to put runs on the board. One hit batter drove in a run, the other scored and two of the three walked batters scored.

Trevor Ley started the four-run second with a single and Kael Scott and Lincoln Mollenkopf followed suit to load the bases. Colin Remmel was safe on an error that plated one, Dylan Goff got hit by a pitch to drive in another and Kaden Middleton’s two-run single capped the frame.

“We executed really well tonight,” Maudsley said. “We had some bunts; we had some two-strike hits. That’s I was really impressed with.”

In fact, four of the 10 Redmen hits came with two strikes and all four led to runs or drove them in.

Willard (1-21) couldn’t bunch hits enough to score. Shane Durbin led off the second with a double and Jerrett Sowers singled him to third with one out. But Ley got a strikeout and a pop to first to end the threat.

“We’ve had a lot of strikeouts (over the season) and that’s a positive — they’re learning how to have an approach at the plate, learning how to hit,” Robinson said. “I think they’ve done a pretty good job of that. They’re starting to catch on.”

Bucyrus pitchers combined to strike out 11 and walk just one while scattering five hits. With the lead, Maudsley was able to throw three different pitchers, keeping their pitch counts low enough to be available for the sectional final at Milan Edison on Saturday.

“Thank goodness we had the lead and our guys jumped on them early so we could have that luxury,” Maudsley said. “I’m not sure what we would have done if the score had been 0-0.”

Sowers led the Flashes with two hits, while Durbin had the double and Ashton Ames and Austin Adelman singled. Adelman started on the mound and went the first four innings, striking out six and walking none. He was touched for four runs, three earned, on seven hits in taking the loss.

“I’ve seen small increments of improvement in some areas,” Robinson said. “We do have some natural pitching coming up. A lot of times, you don’t see sophomore and freshmen getting varsity experience, but it does pay off in the long run.”

Lucas Kozinski, Scott, Kaden Middleton and Mollenkopf each had two hits for Bucyrus. Nic Middleton and Ley added singles. Ley got the win on the mound, striking out four with no walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Ben Seibert pitched three innings with six Ks and no bases on balls in relief.

“Trevor pitched really good tonight and I think en has gotten better the last three or four times he’s pitched,” Maudsley said. “His record doesn’t show it but he’s doing a fabulous job on the mound. He’s really becoming a pitcher.”

The Redmen will play at Edison for a sectional title on Saturday afternoon at a time to be determined.

Box score

Willard     000 000 0     0     5     1

Bucyrus   040 022 X      8     5     1

WP: Trevor Ley (4 SO, 0 W)

LP: Austin Adelman (6 SO, 0 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (W) Shane Durbin.

Multiple hits: (W) Jerrett Sowers; (B) Lucas Kozinski, Kael Scott, Lincoln Mollenkopf.

Records: Willard 1-21; Bucyrus 9-16.

Next: Bucyrus at Milan Edison, Division III sectional final, Saturday.