HOLMES TOWNSHIP — It was a matter of timing for the Wynford Royals.

The Royals stranded the bases loaded in two of the first three innings and 10 over the first four, leading just 1-0 after four.

In the final two frames, however, the Royals exploded, scoring nine runs on nine hits, and came away with a 10-0 win over Colonel Crawford Wednesday night.

With the win, the Royals remain alone in first place in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference with a 7-1 conference record, 10-2 overall, while the Eagles fell to 3-5 in the conference, 5-7 overall.

Wynford coach Tom Smith said that his team finally timed up Colonel Crawford starter Parker Ketterman.

“I think we stranded 10 guys in the first four innings then all of a sudden we started getting them in,” Smith said

“I think the guys finally timed him up,” Smith added. “We hit some right at them, and then we had a couple of guys, I don’t know if it was the timing or not, but we had a couple of guys strikeout that normally don’t.”

Colonel Crawford coach Dan Gorbett said that he was happy with Ketterman’s performance. The junior fanned three, walked five, and hit two batters.

“They’re a very good team,” Gorbett said of the Royals. “I’m very proud of Parker. He started the game yesterday. He went out and walked three or four in a row, so we took him out. He came back today and held a good team to one run over five innings.

“He went out and battled and pitched a good game.”

Wynford starter Spencer Miller went the distance on the hill for the Royals, permitting a double to Mason Studer in the third and a single by Nick Eachus in the fourth. The only Eagle runners that reached base in the final three frames came on Wynford errors. Miller struck out three and walked none.

“Spencer always pitches great,” Smith said. “It’s always good when you throw a shutout. He pitched a great game, and we did make a couple of little bloopers in the field but not too bad.”

Gorbett said that his team is hitting the ball but not hard.

“We hit it, but we didn’t hit it hard,” Gorbett said. “That’s kinda been the way it’s been the last week. We’ve been doing that. Ten days ago, we were really hitting the ball hard.

Wynford got on the board in the third when Zach Harer doubled to left center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grant McGuire.

The Royals scored three more times in the fifth, getting a two-RBI double by Sam Collene and a Harer RBI single.

After Crawford changed pitchers in the sixth, Wynford put the game away with six runs in the frame. McGuire slammed a two-run homer to left and Collene, Cobey Allen, and Harer each added an RBI.

“We’re getting better,” Smith said. “We’re still making mistakes here and there on defense, but we’re getting better.”

Gorbett said that his team will also get better.

“We have to keep positive and keep plugging away,” Gorbett said. “The bats will come back. Our pitching and defense has been pretty solid.”

Box score

Colonel Crawford      000 000 X       0      2     2

Wynford                         001 036 X     10   12     2

WP: Spencer Miller (4 SO, 0 W)

LP: Parker Ketterman (3 SO, 5 W)

HR: (W) Grant McGuire.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (CC) Mason Studer; (W) Zach Harer, Sam Collene.

Multiple hits: (W) Zach Harer, Spencer Miller, Grant McGuire, Dylon Robinson.

Records: Colonel Crawford 5-7, 3-5 N10; Wynford 10-2, 7-1 N10.

Next: Colonel Crawford at Carey, Thursday; Wynford at Bucyrus, Thursday.