Homan, Jelly torture Tribe

FORT RECOVERY — Adam Homan and Josh Jellison didn’t give Fort Recovery much of a chance Friday.

Homan quadrupled his career home run total with three dingers against the Indians, and Jellison tossed a two-hitter as the Patriots returned home to Indiana with a 9-1 victory.

“They just had two dominant performances,” said Fort Recovery coach Dave Blockberger, whose Indians slipped to 2-4 on the season. “(Homan did it) at the plate and (Jellison) was unstoppable on the mound.”

As usual, Heath Williams caused trouble for the Indians when he reached first on an error by third baseman Greg Faller to lead off the game. He immediately stole second, and went to third on a C.J. Tobe balk.

Cameron Hummel hit a fly ball to left field for the first out, but then Homan started his outstanding day.

The senior first baseman launched a Tobe pitch well over the wall in left-center field for the second home run of his career. That total would quickly increase.

Homan stepped to the plate again in the third inning, this time with Hummel on second base because of an error and a steal. He blasted a second ball into the atmosphere — this time a little closer to the left-field scoreboard — but with the same result.

His second bomb of the game started a four-run Patriot rally in which Nick Timmerman and Chris Myers also scored on RBI single from Chad Keen and Erich Zielinski.

Tobe had the unfortunate luck of seeing Homan again in the fourth. This time the bases were empty after strikeouts by Williams and Hummel, but it was all the same to Homan.

He crushed another towering shot to just about the same spot over the wall in left field for a third consecutive home run. He added an RBI single to score Hummel, a stolen base and a run in the sixth inning to complete his outstanding offensive effort.

Overall, Homan went 4-for-4 with a single and three home runs. He finished with three runs scored and six RBIs.

“I was just waiting for a strike in my zone,” said Homan, who hit his first homer on a fastball. “After the first home run he threw me curveballs. The last two were curve balls, he just got them up and I hit them.

“That’s a pretty good day. I’d say that’s the best day of my career.”

Blockberger agreed with Homan’s assessment of the situation.

“The problem was, we didn’t get the low strike, and C.J. (Tobe) has got to have the low strike,” he said. “He got behind and had to move it up, and that’s when we got hurt.”

Jellison dished out his own brand of pain on Fort Recovery, sending batter after batter back to the home dugout.

He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning when Dusty Guggenbiller led off with a single. That one did no damage, and the only Indian run came two innings later when Greg Snyder doubled and scored on a Jay County error.

In all, Jellison faced just three over the minimum and at one point retired nine consecutive Tribe batters. He finished the complete-game victory with 11 strikeouts — five on called third strikes — and did not walk a batter.

“Jellison was pretty domineering,” said Jay County coach Lea Selvey. “He was throwing his splitter tonight. It was really dancing for him.

“Adam (Homan) had a great night. Those are nights he’ll talk about to his grandchildren.”

Behind Homan was Chris Myers, who finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Nick Timmerman had two hits and a run, and Trent Bailey had his second two-hit game of the year.

Hummel scored a pair of runs and added two stolen bases.

Tobe took the loss for the Tribe, allowing seven runs — five earned — in five innings. He struck out six batters and did not give up a walk.

Eric Rindler and Todd Post each gave up a run in one inning of relief.

Jay County (2-0) and Fort Recovery are both in back in the field today. The Patriots will play at Fort Wayne South at 11 a.m. while the Indians visit Fairlawn at 11 a.m.[[In-content Ad]]