Tribe takes down Knights in final

CONVOY, Ohio — It was a big day for Indians baseball.

Four players received all-conference honors. Two of those four came up big in an upset win.

On Thursday, the sixth-seeded Fort Recovery High School baseball team rode off the strong pitching of Alex Dues to upset the No. 2 seed Crestview Knights on the same day that four Indians got recognized by the Midwest Athletic Conference for All-MAC honors.

With the victory, Fort Recovery (11-11) earns a trip to Coldwater for the district opener against No. 9 seed Parkway on Wednesday at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Dues, the only FRHS selection to the Second Team All-MAC, dominated the Crestview (12-7) lineup all day. He struck out seven batters while going the distance on the mound. Dues only gave up four hits and two walks.

The only run Dues surrendered came in the bottom of the third inning. The inning started with Dues plunking D.J. Yinger with a pitch and then a fielder’s choice that had Huxley Gross replacing Yinger at first base.

A single to left field by Levi Grace got Grose into scoring position, so that Hunter Jones’ single got the run home.

Luckily for Dues, his offense scored a pair of runs in the top of the third inning, so the one run didn’t hurt.

Gavin Faller led off the frame with a single to right field before Riggs Tobe reached on an error that put the runners at the corners.

Troy Homan laid down a suicide squeeze to get Faller home for the first run of the game.

On the next pitch Preston Kreischer threw, Reece Wendel, Fort Recovery’s first-team All-MAC selection, singled on a line drive to left field to score Tobe.

Parkway upset No. 3 seed St. Henry 7-5 in the sectional title to earn the matchup with FRHS. Back on April 5, Fort Recovery took down Parkway 1-0 in eight innings. Caden Grisez hit a walk-off single while Dues only gave up three hits over eight innings pitched.

Along with Dues and Wendel, sophomores Alex Gaerke and Caden Homan were both named to as honorable mentions for the All-MAC team.