Tribe falls to Tigers

FORT RECOVERY - The Tigers totaled 14 hits Friday evening. Only half of them got out of the infield.

Versailles dinked and dunked the Fort Recovery High School baseball team, getting just one extra-base hit as it beat the Indians 14-2 in the Midwest Athletic Confernece opener for both teams.

"The good thing out of this is we get to play two tomorrow and come back. That's baseball," said Fort Recovery coach Shane McKibben, whose team plays a double-header today at Arcanum. "I think we're capable of a lot more than we showed tonight. ... I'm looking forward to tomorrow and seeing how we respond."

The Indians (3-3) had a variety of issues against Versailles as they committed six errors and issued 11 walks to compound the multitude of infield hits. The Tigers scored four times on four hits in the first inning, three times on two hits in the fourth and five times on four hits in the seventh.

Jonathan Murphy powered the Tiger offense with two hits, including a double to lead off the fourth inning, three runs and a stolen base. Nick Eilerman and Patrick Mescher each had two hits and two runs, and Jason Francis and Luke Cox each totaled two RBIs.

"You've got to be patient," said Versailles coach Ted Blakeley of his team's hitting approach. "You can't go up there thinking you're going to be swinging at every pitch and hitting every pitch. ... I thought we did a good job ... we put the ball on the ground and made them make plays. ..."

On top of the hitting effort, Versailles made things even more difficult on the Indians by putting Jon Richard on the mound.

The senior, who is a Xavier recruit, allowed just three hits while striking out nine batters. He gave way to Taylor Hassel, who tossed a one-two-three seventh.

"He's a real nice pitcher," said McKibben. "We haven't seen anything like that this year."

Toby Metzger had two of Fort Recovery's three hits against Richard, both singles to right-center field. Frank Thien led off the game with the other hit, an infield single, and scored on an RBI by Metzger.

Nathan Fortkamp took the loss in the game, allowing six runs - four earned - on seven hits and three walks. But he turned in a solid effort in his second career start before giving up a double and a walk to open the fourth inning.

Four of the first six hits against him did not leave the infield.

"He went as far as he could, kept us in the game," said McKibben. "If a couple things go our way ... the scoreboard's a little different. It was a positive outing by Nathan Fortkamp.

"He gave us a chance. That's what we asked him to do."

Junior varsity

Versailles had a pair of double-digit innings as it clobbered the Indians 24-0 in five innings.

Hayden Pottkotter started and allowed 10 runs - nine eraned - on four hits and four walks in two innings to take the loss. Versailles scored 10 times in the second inning and 10 more in the third.

Ryan Gaerke had a pair of hits for Fort Recovery. Ethan Schoenherr added a single.

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