Tribe falls to NK

MINSTER, Ohio — The Indians got on the scoreboard first.
They finished with twice as many hits as New Knoxville.
And they made some impressive plays in the outfield.
Fort Recovery put the pressure on the Rangers in the opening round of the Division IV baseball sectional tournament, but walks and errors came back to bite them in a 5-1 defeat.
The Tribe gave up seven walks, hit two batters and committed two errors in the loss. All of New Knoxville’s five runs came by way of those free passes and miscues.
“My philosophy is if they’re going to make mistakes and they’re going to walk you, you’ve got to make them pay somehow, some way,” said Rangers coach Ron Reineke, whose team will play host Minster for the sectional championship Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. “I don’t care how you get runs. As long as on the scoreboard and you’re ahead at the end of the game, that’s all that matters to me. You’ve just got to take advantage …”
Fort Recovery grabbed the lead Saturday after Trent Dues reached base on an error to lead off the third inning. His pinch runner, Chard Schroer, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, took third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Hayden Pottkotter’s single to center field.
However, the Rangers’ Adam Clark and Caleb Allen drew back-to-back walks to open the third inning, and Cody Horstman reached base on an error. After a fielder’s choice, Marcus Reineke delivered an RBI single and Addison Wolf added a sacrifice fly. Brian Bambauer scored on a wild pitch to push New Knoxville to a 3-1 lead.
The Indians responded with two hits in the fourth inning, but couldn’t get the break they needed to get a run home. They had runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth inning as well only to leave them stranded.
“We’re getting better,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup, whose squad is 2-14. “We’re making more plays. We just need to continue to improve.
“We’ll keep working at it.”
New Knoxville got its other two runs in the sixth inning, after Zack Allen and Lucas Leffel drew consecutive walks to open the frame. Allen came around to score on a throwing error, and Clark drove in Leffel with a sacrifice fly.
The Indians’ defense came up big to keep them in the game in the fourth inning, when a walk, wild pitch and hit batsman had runners on second and third with just one out. Horstman hit a looping line drive to left field, and Alex Thien came up with a diving catch and tossed to third base to double off Spencer Wolf.
“We’ve been working more on being aggressive in the outfield and trying to understand the situations,” said Kaup, who also got key catches from Dues, the right fielder, in the second inning and center fielder Ryan Gaerke in the fifth. “That was a 3-1 ballgame at the time. With a runner on third, we can not afford to let the ball hit the ground. If we can make the catch, we have to come in and get it. …
“That was a fantastic catch. It actually gave us some momentum, but then New Knoxville, to their credit, came out and made the plays.”
Reineke finished with a single and an RBI for the Rangers, and Caleb Allen had a hit and a run. The only other hit came from Spencer Wolf.
Caleb Allen earned the win for New Knoxville, giving up one unearned run on six hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.
“He did well with his control,” said Reineke. “He was pretty consistent. … All I asked him to do was throw strikes, and he did a good job today. He threw strikes, let them put it in play, let the defense do its job after that.”
Kent Retz took the loss for the Tribe as he allowed four runs — two earned — on four walks and one hit in three-plus innings of relief.
Hayden Pottkotter finished 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Tribe. Other hits came from Shane Pottkotter, Jacob Muhlenkamp, Thien and Retz.[[In-content Ad]]