Tribe no longer perfect

FORT RECOVERY — The goose egg is gone.
Minster got on the board early, and Matthew Trushaw subdued a hot offensive squad as the Fort Recovery High School baseball team lost Friday to the Wildcats, 7-3.
It was the first loss of the season for the Indians, who are ranked No. 1 in Division IV by the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches’ Association.
“That is honestly, in my mind, Matthew’s best outing of the year,” said Minster coach Mike Wiss. “I don’t think Matthew threw early in the year as well as he expected or maybe we expected.
“He was challenged by me and tonight was his night to perform.”
Trushaw nearly went the distance, scattering eight hits over 6 1/3 innings while giving up three runs — two earned — and walking five.
“His offspeed pitches — even offspeed behind in the count — (were) important to get some of their batters out on their front foot,” Wiss said.
The right-handed Trushaw, who was first-team all-Midwest Athletic Conference last season, only struck out one batter, letting the defense behind him do the work.
Fort Recovery (17-1, 5-1 MAC) had a runner in scoring position with two outs in the second and third innings, but Trushaw induced a fly ball to right field and a grounder he took himself to get out of those jams.
He needed just three pitches to get through the fourth inning. Derek Backs bounced out to shortstop Peter Falk, and following a single by Kyle Schroer, Nate Lochtefeld hit into a 1-6-3 double play.
In the meantime, the Wildcats (13-6, 5-1 MAC) offense had nine hits through the first four innings for a seven-run lead.
Falk drilled the third pitch of the game from FRHS starter Cole Wendel to center field for a single, and advanced to third almost immediately on a stolen base and a throwing error on the pickoff attempt.
An inning later with bases loaded and one out, Falk rifled the first pitch he saw down the left-field line to drive in a pair, giving the Wildcats a 3-0 advantage. Falk led the Wildcats with three hits and also scored twice. Niemeyer, who had a single, a double and two RBIs, hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Ben Stubbs.
Minster padded its lead in the fourth inning with three more runs. Falk hit a single to left field that took a bad hop over Kyle Schroer to score Stubbs, J.R. Nixon hit an RBI single to center field with bases loaded and Brett Hoelscher drew a walk with the bases full. The Wildcats scored all three runs with no outs.
They nearly added more in the frame too. Trushaw popped out to Bruns with bases loaded for the first out, and after Will caught a fly ball from Sam Bornhorst in shallow right field for the second out he fired a seed to catcher Derek Backs to cut down Josh Nixon at the plate.
 Minster’s leadoff hitter reached base in each of the first six innings, whereas the only time Fort Recovery got the leadoff man on was in the fifth.
“It increases your chance of scoring a run by about 60 percent,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup. “They have a lot of options … to do different things.
“We just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Fort Recovery did, however, show some life late in the game. Schroer, who had three hits and walked once to reach base four times, hit a one-out double to left field in the sixth, and an error off the bat of Nate Lochtefeld gave the home team runners at the corners.
Lochtefeld swiped second to get two runners in scoring position, and a balk by Trushaw plated the Indians’ first run of the game. Ben Will hit a sacrifice fly to left field, allowing Lochtefeld to score standing up as Hoelscher’s throw was to the plate was late.
 In the seventh, Cole Wendel worked a one-out walk, his fourth of the game. After Wendel moved up on a wild pitch, Jackson Hobbs hit a liner up the middle, and Jacob Homan followed with an RBI single to chase Trushaw from the game.
Lochtefeld came up against Josh Nixon two batters later as the tying run, but he bounced out to Trushaw at third to end the game.
“It’s a tough game to lose, but it’s not the end,” Kaup said. “We still have a lot of things to play for. The season really is just starting to get interesting.
“We need to keep that good attitude. We’re right in the thick of things and that’s how we have to approach it.”