Tribe clobbers New Knoxville (05/03/04)

MINSTER — Weather left the status of Saturday’s sectional games in doubt. But, there became no doubt which baseball team arrived ready to play.

As the rain mostly stayed away Fort Recovery boasted a pair of two-out, run-scoring rallies and then added a seven-run fourth inning en route to an 11-2 sectional semifinal victory over the New Knoxville Rangers at Minster.

Led by Nick Wehrkamp’s career day — three hits, including two doubles, four RBIs and one run — the heart of the Indians’ order crushed New Knoxville. The No. 3, 4 and 5 hitters — Greg Faller, Dusty Guggenbiller and Wehrkamp — combined to finish 7-for-10 in the contest, keying all three big innings for the Tribe.

“I was seeing the ball pretty well,” said Wehrkamp, one of just two seniors on the team. “It’s big to get two-out hits because two-out hits win you games.”

It wasn’t just two-out hits, but strings of them, which got Fort Recovery (7-10) going against the Rangers.

With two down and no one on base in the bottom of the first inning Faller smashed a triple just out of the reach of right fielder Mitchell Kellermeyer. Guggenbiller brought Faller in, hitting the first pitch he saw for a single to left field.

Wehrkamp then brought Guggenbiller to the plate with the first of his two doubles for a 2-0 lead.

The same group came up in the same situation in the third inning and again produced two runs. Faller singled to right field, and Guggenbiller took first after he was hit by a pitch.

Wehrkamp brought Faller to the plate with a single to right, and Guggenbiller put Fort Recovery up 4-0 when he scored on a passed ball.

Guggenbiller finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs, three runs and a pair of stolen bases. Faller was also 2-for-3 and scored three times.

“They really jump-started us,” said first-year Tribe coach Aaron Vaughn. “Faller got us started with a two-out hit, then (Guggenbiller) got a big hit, and Nick got a big hit and kind of took over the game.”

With the lead built, the bottom of the order got into the act in the fourth inning. Steve Trobridge singled, Chris Galdeen bunted and reach first on an error by pitcher Derreck Dillon and Brad Fortkamp was hit by a pitch to load the bases for C.J. Tobe.

The leadoff man was 0-for-2, but came through with a two-run single. After a sacrifice bunt by Todd Post it was time for the big three to do their damage again.

The Rangers intentionally walked Faller to load the bases and set up a double play, but Guggenbiller and Wehrkamp had other plans. Guggenbiller knocked in Fortkamp and Tobe with a single to right field, and then Wehrkamp pushed Faller and Guggenbiller to the plate with his second double.

Trobridge later drove in Wehrkamp to cap the seven-run inning in which Fort Recovery sent 11 batters to the plate.

“I thought we did a great job at the bottom of the order,” said Vaughn of his players’ ability to do the little things to get the inning started. “Our big guys came up with some good hits after we got the small ball down.”

The win offered a bit of revenge for the Indians, who lost 6-5 in sectional play to New Knoxville last season. Then-senior Eric Rindler had a perfect game through three innings and a no-hitter through five before four unearned runs doomed the Tribe in 2003.

Now, after their first sectional win since taking the title in 2001, the Indians advance to the championship game against second-seeded host Minster Saturday at noon.

“It feels good to know that you have another day to play in the tourney,” said Wehrkamp. “We thought we had a pretty good chance because we’ve been losing some close games. A clutch hit here or there and we’d be over .500 instead of under .500.”

Tobe, the team’s other senior, controlled the New Knoxville bats and got plenty of help from his defense.

The first inning ended on a Guggenbiller to Galdeen to Wehrkamp 6-4-3 double play. The play to end the second was even better.

With a runner on first base, Jared Sunderland hit a soft grounder to Dan Heitkamp at third. Heitkamp had trouble getting the throw off, and Sunderland was safe at first.

However, an alert Wehrkamp fired to an equally alert Guggenbiller covering third to catch Andy Kuck trying to take an extra base on the play. Dusty Tobe chipped in his great play to end the third, diving across the foul line in right field to make a spectacular catch off the bat of Kale Wierwille.

The Rangers had three runners reach base in the fourth inning, but couldn’t score a run thanks to a big play by C.J. Tobe. On a sharply-hit ball back to the mound he smartly caught Zac Miller dashing to third base and ran him down for the first out of the inning.

He then got a couple of ground balls to end the fourth scoreless frame.

New Knoxville did post a pair of runs in the fifth inning, but they only served to lengthen the defeat as Todd Post made an excellent catch on a fly ball to left to end the game in the seventh.

In all Tobe and his defense served to scatter nine hits as he allowed just two unearned runs in seven innings. He struck out two and walked two in improving to 3-2 on the season.

“C.J. is one of our senior leaders,” said Vaughn. “I knew he’d keep guys off balance. He’s smart on the mound.”

Miller, Sunderland and Luke Howe each had two hits against Tobe.

Dillon started and took the defeat as the Tribe pounded him for eight runs — six earned — in three-plus innings. Wierwille allowed three runs — two earned — in three innings of relief.[[In-content Ad]]