Greg Maddux famously declared years ago, “Chicks dig the long ball.”

If there’s any truth to the adage, Milan High School’s style of baseball won’t land the players any dates, but it has landed them in Friday’s Division 2 state semifinals. That’s the only date the Big Reds are concerned with.

Milan (26-12) hasn’t had an extra-base hit since district play and has combined to scored just seven runs over its past three games - four of which came in a regional semifinal win over Riverview. But with a defense that’s only had two fielding errors in the same time span, offense being at a premium hasn’t been a problem for Milan.

“I know that if I just throw strikes and work to get them to put the ball in play, my defense is there to back me up,” said sophomore pitcher Thomas Lindeman after going the distance in his team’s quarterfinal win over Coldwater on Tuesday.

Lindeman has been solid on the mound - giving up just one run in his past 15 innings of work - but it’s not because he’s blowing by batters. Lindeman struck out seven batters combined in the regional championship and in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. Similarly, junior Kyle Schrader struck out four against Riverview.

What Schrader and Lindeman both do well is get batters to put the ball in play and let their defense do the rest.

“When we throw strikes and play good defense, we’re going to stay in the game,” Milan coach Adam Gilles said on Tuesday.

The fact that it’s been defense and not aces propelling the Big Reds’ longest postseason run since 2009 leaves Gilles in an advantageous spot when it comes to choosing a pitcher for Friday’s noon semifinal against Richmond (33-4). While Gilles said he’s leaning toward starting Schrader on Friday, he said he is still considering Lindeman.

“Probably Schrader because he hasn’t pitched since Saturday, but we’ll see. I mean we gotta ride Thomas,” Gilles said. “If he can pitch he can pitch.”

Who to start in the semifinals is a decision that annually haunts baseball coaches this time of year. Do you throw the ace to give your team a better chance at reaching the final, or go with the No. 2 and save the ace for the championship?

But with Milan’s defense playing the role of ace more so than the pitchers, even Lindeman isn’t sweating the decision.

“I want to be saved and pitch Saturday,” Lindeman said on Tuesday. “I’ve got all the faith in the world in Kyle, he can do it and then I’ll get it done in the championship.

“But it really doesn’t matter with our defense behind us.”

And though Milan’s offense hasn’t been abundant, it has been clutch. The Big Reds have entered the seventh inning in each of their past three games either trailing or tied and come away with wins. The Big Reds broke up a 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh against Riverview in the regional semifinals, forced extra innings after trailing Tecumseh 1-0 in the regional final - eventually winning in walk-off fashion in the eighth.

Milan was deadlocked with Coldwater in a scoreless tie before scoring on a bloop single in the top of the seventh on Tuesday.

"They can handle the pressure situations and they’re always going to stick around," Gilles said.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.