Kahlig Ks 16 in opener (03/31/2009)

FORT RECOVERY - Toby Metzger was ready, but Greg Kahlig wanted to finish the game. He made the most of it.

The Fort Recovery High School junior had already struck out Jackson Center's No. 5, 6 and 7 hitters twice in the game. He got each of them for a third time as part of a four-strikeout seventh inning to complete the Indian baseball team's 3-1 season-opening victory over the Tigers.

The final frame brought Kahlig's strikeout total to 16 for the game, in which he had a no-hitter for the first 5 2/3 innings.

"He was throwing some stuff that we haven't seen necessarily," said Jackson Center coach Travis Pulfer of his team's difficult opening assignment. "It's kind of hard to imitate or replicate curveballs and the heat that went with it. ... He's a competitor."

Kahlig mowed through the Tigers' order, striking out the side three times. He had at least one strikeout in every inning and struck out each batter in the Jackson Center lineup at least once.

After allowing a walk to Keenan Fuller to open the second inning, Kahlig retired 14 consecutive batters. He struck out Danny Frank, Seth Bodemiller and Kevin McGowan in both the second and fifth innings.

The Tigers finally got on the board in the sixth inning, but Kahlig was in command in the seventh. He struck out Fuller, Frank and Bodemiller, the last of which reached first base when catcher Nathan Fortkamp couldn't corral the third strike. But the Tribe's ace took advantage of the situation, striking out McGowan again to end the game.

"Greg threw a nice game," said FRHS coach Shane McKibben. "Having Greg come out and throw seven, that's not something we were planning on doing, but his pitch count wasn't too high. He was throwing strikes, so we let him go."

Fort Recovery had multiple runners on base in the first and second innings, and then broke through for a run in the third.

Three straight one-out singles from Cody Fiely, Toby Metzger and Brady Kahlig got the offense going, with Fiely scoring on Kahlig's hit. Metzger, who finished 2-for-3, took home plate on a balk.

Kahlig was caught in a rundown after a Frank Thien walk, but Thien was able to move up to second base on the play. He scored the Tribe's third run on a Travis Hart single to center field.

The Indians failed to get a hit the remainder of the game, but their three runs were enough for Greg Kahlig.

"We came through one inning," said McKibben. "We got aggressive a little bit and tried to make something happen because both pitchers were throwing well."

He added that his team will need to be aggressive on the base paths with only one .300 hitter, Thien, returning from last season.

"We have some guys new in the lineup and some guys who haven't played a whole lot. ... We try to get on base and be aggressive and try to make them make plays. ... We just made a few more today," said McKibben.

Jackson Center pitcher Trent Mann settled down after a rocky start, facing the minimum over the last three innings. The only Tribe base runner during that span came in the fifth inning when Travis Hart reached on an error, but Mann picked him off of first base.

"Really the big inning for us was the fifth when they came up with their two, three, four who had popped together those runs and he went right through them," said Pulfer of Mann, who gave up six hits and a walk while striking out three in the loss. "For the most part, our kids did all right. I can't be too upset. We start pretty young across the infield ..."

Kahlig walked just one batter and held the Tigers hitless until Austin Ludwig's double down the left field line with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Mann followed with a triple to right to bring home Jackson Center's only run.

"It was a little bit of a spark," said Pulfer. "We understand what you have to do, but we have to make that happen in the first, second and third inning rather than the fifth, sixth and seventh."

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