COLDWATER, Ohio — Perrysburg High School baseball followed up its trip to the Division I state semifinals in early June by sending its summer team to the state Acme tournament for the third straight year.

On Saturday at Coldwater’s Veterans Field at Memorial Park, Perrysburg lost in the quarterfinals, 5-2, to Defiance.

It was the Yellow Jackets’ first loss of the summer season, finishing 11-1, while Defiance advanced to the semifinals with a 20-5-1 record.

This was Perrysburg’s 18th trip to the state Acme tournament, winning a state title in 1998 by defeating Toledo St. Francis and finishing as state runner-up in 2014, losing to Defiance in the title contest.

The only other Wood County team to win a state title was Bowling Green in 2011, defeating Vandalia Butler. The state tournament dates back to 1961.

In the state Junior Acme tournament dating back to 1997, Perrysburg finished as runner-up in 2008 and 2012, losing to Vandalia Butler and Bellefontaine in the championship games.

Also in Junior Acme baseball, BG lost to Toledo Start in the 1998 state championship game and Eastwood fell to Bryan in the 2007 state championship.

Perrysburg coach Dave Hall serves as the District 3 commissioner and also serves on the state board of directors of Acme baseball.

Hall would like to see a resurgence in the metropolitan Toledo area because his team only had to win a four-team district tournament to advance to state.

“I love Acme baseball. I grew up playing it,” Hall said. “It has died in Toledo. There are only four of us.

“It’s community-based, it’s the way it used to be, it’s the way it should be. It’s been watered down the last few years and we only had to walk into it (state tournament). We only had to beat three teams.”

Hall says the high school-based Acme teams are competing against travel programs, and in many cases, travel programs are winning.

“We could travel,” Hall said. “I could get all of my kids together, and we would play in every PBR (Prep Baseball Report) tournament. We did it two years ago with a makeshift crew like this and they battled.

“I had some parents go, ‘Well, we probably don’t have enough pitching in the freshman class next year,” and I go, ‘Well, we only have four pitchers, but by next spring, we are going to have 12 pitchers. That’s my job to develop them.

“The only good thing about travel is maybe on a weekend you might have 10 pitchers pitching, but if we played five games I’d use 10 pitchers anyways.”

Graduated seniors are not eligible to play Acme baseball in the summer, so it gives high school coaches a chance to see next year’s team. Hall had a couple infielders, second baseman J.D. Zeeb and incoming junior third baseman Beckett Walters who made a good showing in the quarterfinal loss to Defiance Saturday.

“There are a couple kids who are question marks on the team. They impressed me today,” Hall said. “Our third baseman, who ended up playing second, he made three great plays.”

The plays included throwing out a runner at first, despite letting a base runner score, a diving catch on a line drive that saved a run, and two pick-off plays on throws from junior catcher Ryan Rettig — one at second and one at third.

“The only thing he (Walters) did wrong was he didn’t throw the guy out at home, but I never yell at a kid for getting an out,” Hall said.

“I go, ‘That’s not having enough reps there.’ Nothing wrong — he got an out, but he made a great play on the line drive, the pick-off play was unbelievable. He made that great play at second tagging the guy on the steal at second.”

Plus, going against Defiance’s ace, senior Brezlen Zipfel, the Yellow Jackets belted out nine hits, but stranded nine baserunners.

In the seventh, Perrysburg had two runners in scoring position and the tying run at the plate with one out, but Defiance senior reliever Cody Shaw was able to get the final two outs.

“I was happy. We were a hit away a couple innings. We had guys on almost every inning, we had guys on second and third. We just didn’t get the hits when we needed them. We did it when we were last up with two outs, which didn’t help, but I thought both pitchers battled,” Hall said.

“We came down here and I knew our kids would compete. I don’t care who I put out there — they play hard. We made some great plays.”

Senior Grant Petteys started on the mound for Perrysburg, striking out none, walking three, allowing six hits and four runs through four innings. Facing 20 batters, he threw 72 pitches, including 38 strikes.

Senior Aaron Banks tossed the final three innings in relief, striking out two, walking one, allowing three hits and one run while facing 12 batters. Banks threw 50 pitches, including 30 strikes.

At the plate, Rettig was 2-for-2 and walked twice, Petteys was 2-for-4, Banks belted a triple, Zeeb hit a double, and senior Noah Lindsey, Walters, and sophomore Liam Nowakowski had base hits.

Zipfel was the winning pitcher, striking out six and walking three over 6.1 innings. He threw 123 pitches, including 76 strikes to 30 Perrysburg batters.