Mirror images

FORT RECOVERY - It's rare to see a team rally from a four-run deficit in the final inning. Saturday, it happened twice.

In game one of the double-header, the Houston Wildcats scored six times in the top of the seventh inning to rally for a 10-8 victory over the Fort Recovery High School baseball team. Game two saw the Tribe return the favor, tallying five runs in the bottom of the seventh to win 14-13.

"It taught us a valuable lesson," said Tribe coach Shane McKibben, whose team is 6-6-1. "We have blown four games in the last inning before today. ... Between games we talked about (playing) seven innings. They figured it out. It takes seven innings of complete baseball.

"I'm very happy that they figured out how to play seven innings. ... It starts with a hit and it steamrolls.

"I just hope we can use this and learn from it."

After hours of work to make the soggy field playable and a depressing finish to game one, the Indians found themselves in a 9-0 hole in the second game. But they got some help thanks to a bevy of walks and wild pitches in the third inning, and created some magic of their own in the bottom of the seventh.

Ryan Schoen got Fort Recovery going with his fourth hit of the day, a one-out single to left field.

Nathan Keller followed with a double to center to put the pressure on, and Houston pitcher Josh Cornett walked both Travis Hart and Frank Thien to bring home a run.

Brady Kahlig was hit by a pitch to plate another run, and then Toby Metzger smacked a double to left-center field to tie the game. A.J. Backs earned himself the pitching victory with an RBI single to right field to bring Bahlig home with the winning run.

"We just couldn't get the outs at the end," said Houston coach Glenn Brown. "We couldn't make the pitches we needed to."

The Indians knew the feeling.

Leading by four runs with just one inning to play in the opener, Tribe pitchers Toby Metzger and Frank Thien allowed each of the first five Houston runners to reach base on two hits, a walk, an error and a fielder's choice. Thien retired Adam Mullen for the second out of the inning with a one-run lead still in tact, but then walked Cornett.

An error allowed Greg Holthaus to reach base, and another walk set the stage for Zack Freshour. The Wildcats' leadoff hitter doubled to left-center field to break the tie, and Fort Recovery couldn't score after a leadoff hit by Backs in the bottom of the frame.

"We got the bottom of the order on and the top of the order just got it done," said Brown, whose team got five hits, including a grand slam, seven RBIs and seven runs from Brett Byrum on the day. "Brett had a great day. He's hit line drives all year long. ... When he gets in the batters box he's really serious. It was just a great day by him."

Schoen was the offensive star of the day for the Indians with a single and a double in the first game. He reached base in all four plate appearances in game two on two hits, a walk and an error.

"A lot of guys had some big hits," said McKibben, who also got four runs from Schoen in the double-header. "Ryan Schoen had a good day at the plate.

"We talked this week about wiping off a bad at bat. ... The kids that didn't have a good at bat, or had a poor defensive play, we're trying to get them to shake it off and not carry it into the next play or the next at bat."

Backs came up big for the Indians on the mound in the second game after entering with an 11-9 deficit, two runners on base and no outs in the sixth inning. He allowed the two inherited runners to score, but escaped without further damage as he started a 1-6-3 double-play.

With two runners on base in the seventh inning and no outs, Backs struck out Byrum. It was the first time all day that the Houston clean-up hitter did not reach base.

Then came another double play as Adam Mullen bounced a ground ball to third baseman Ehtan Schoenherr, who stepped on third base before tossing to first to end the inning.[[In-content Ad]]