Green Wave crashes over Fort (04/08/08)

FORT RECOVERY - The first two outs weren't so much of a problem.

But the third one gave the Indians fits.

The Greenville Green Wave scored 10 two-out runs Monday night, handing the Fort Recovery High School baseball team a 12-2 defeat in five innings.

"We ran into a team that put the ball in play," said FRHS coach Shane McKibben. "They're a nice ball club. They had a good approach with two strikes and put the ball in play with two outs and did a lot of damage. And that's good baseball.

"The scoreboard doesn't show it, but we did some good things. ... We just need more swings, more at bats."

Most of the damage came in a disastrous fifth inning when Greenville (4-1) put six runs on the board. After Cody Fiely struck out Adam Burk and Cale Marker to start the frame, a walk, error and walk loaded the bases.

The Green Wave took advantage of those three bases, knocking four consecutive hits, including a two-run double by Ryan Boyer and an RBI double from Lance Berner. The Indians finally escaped the inning when Frank Thien struck out pinch hitter Derek Kagey, but the visitors' lead had ballooned from four runs to 12-2.

"A good team, if you give them an opportunity, they're going to take advantage of it," said McKibben. "And Greenville is a solid team this year. They made us play for (the error)."

Greenville also scored twice with two outs in the first inning with a two-run double by Marker. It added two more two-out runs in the third on Trip Davis' two-run single.

"We've been doing pretty good at the beginning of the year in clutch situations," said Greenville coach Ryan Fiely, whose team had six two-out hits. "We struck out a few too many times, looking especially ... but the more we put it in play, the better we'll be, and we put it in play pretty hard today."

Boyer led the offensive onslaught for the Green Wave with two hits, including the fifth-inning double, three RBIs, two runs and a stolen base. Leadoff hitter Zack Knick went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base, and Berner had two hits, two RBIs and a run.

Mark Shields had two hits, Marker and Davis each drove in two runs and Burk scored twice.

Burk also earned the win, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out three batters in five innings.

"It was the first time out for Burk," Fiely said. "He comes out and he throws strikes. He mixed in the curve ball pretty well."

After he gave up three first-inning runs, Bobby Rammel got the Tribe offense started with an infield single in the bottom of the first. He moved to second on Thien's sacrifice and scored on a two-out single to left field by clean-up hitter Curt Heitkamp, who combined with No. 9 hitter Brady Kahlig for four of the team's five hits.

But by the time the Indians got something going again, they were down 6-1.

Their second run came after Heitkamp led off the fourth inning with a double to center field. He moved to third on Greg Kahlig's sacrifice and scored on a ground out by Travis Hart.

Greenville responded with its six runs in the top of the fifth to put the game away.

Rammel took the loss, giving up six runs on seven hits and a walk in 2 2/3 innings. He had seven strikeouts.

Clint Tobe, Fiely, A.J. Backs and Thien tossed the remaining 2 1/3 innings, giving up five hits, four walks and six unearned runs.

"Thank goodness in baseball you can come back the next night," said McKibben. "We will look forward to tomorrow to see how we respond. We're going to find out tomorrow what kind of team we're going to be."[[In-content Ad]]