New state of mind

The Indians are headed back to the state semifinal.
The location is the same.
The opponent is the same.
As Yogi Berra used to say, “Déjà vu all over again?”
Not quite.
“We have a different attitude and different expectations,” said coach Jerry Kaup, whose 10th-ranked Fort Recovery High School baseball team opens the Division IV state finals at 4 p.m. this afternoon against No. 5 Newark Catholic at Huntington Park in Columbus. The winner advances to the state championship at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“We’d like to go down there and come back victorious this year,” Kaup said. “It was very exciting and almost overwhelming sometimes last year just to get there.”
Not this year.
Senior left fielder Kyle Schroer said last season the Indians were just pleased to reach the final four, a place no Tribe team had been in six decades.
Teammates Jackson Hobbs and Will Homan feel the same way.
“Last year every game was so much hype and a bunch of firsts,” Homan said. “We were happy with being at Huntington. This year we wanted to be there and aren’t going to be satisfied by being there.
“It’s all about winning the final two games.”
But first, Fort Recovery meets the Green Wave of Newark Catholic, the defending state champions and winners of two of the last three state titles.
They have 22 wins to just nine losses — the Indians have an identical record — and needed 10 innings to get past top-ranked Toronto 4-1 May 27 to get back to the state finals.
Given the fact the Green Wave ended the Indians’ season at this level last season, the Tribe is hopeful that too, is not the same.
“This is definitely a good ball club that we’re going to see (today), but I think they are definitely beatable,” Hobbs said. “They have played weaker teams than we have in the postseason.”
That much could be true.
Newark Catholic opened postseason play with a 42-0 victory in five innings over Columbus Patriot Preparatory in the sectional semifinal before depositing of Columbus Africentric 24-0 in the title game.
The Green Wave beat Cardington-Lincoln 3-0 in the district semifinal, and then needed six innings to defeat Sugar Grove Berne Union 10-0 for the championship.
They shut out Waterford 2-0 a week later in the Lancaster regional semifinal before giving up their first run of the tournament to Toronto.
Six games, 81 runs scored, one run allowed. But not a single opponent that finished in the top 20 of the final Division IV poll of the season.
Fort Recovery, on the other hand, has had a much different route back to the state semifinal. It shut out New Bremen 2-0 in the sectional final before avenging a regular-season loss to Midwest Athletic Conference foe and eighth-ranked St. Henry with a 2-0 victory in the district semifinal.
The Indians needed just one run to beat No. 13 Minster in the district championship as Newark Catholic coach John Cannizzaro sat in the stands with a watchful eye.
A feisty Defiance Ayersville Pilot team kept the Indians on their toes as the Tribe won the regional semifinal matchup 7-5. In the regional championship, Fort Recovery scored seven runs in the third inning to defeat third-ranked Kalida 11-1 and book a return trip to state.
Despite the lopsided score in the regional final, the Indians still had to battle, and Kaup feels the path the Indians have endured to Huntington has helped prepare them for the final two games.
“We don’t know what it’s going to take to win a baseball game,” he said. “We can scout, we can predict, we can do anything we want. Once they say ‘Play ball,’ anything can happen …
“I think what is important is how we react to what is happening at the baseball game. That is what we can control — how we react to what is happening.”
If the last two days of practice have been any sign, today’s game will indeed be different. The Indians were loose, relaxed, joking around, playfully chirping at one another yet still concentrating on the upcoming task.
“Last year we kind of pressed a little bit,” said Hobbs, who still feels responsible for the defeat after committing two of the Tribe’s four errors. “We’re hungry and we’re not satisfied with just making it this year.”
But the looseness of practices lately?
“I think that has to do with some of the experience that we had last year,” Kaup said. “I’m hoping we’re relaxed, but focused. To be really intense 48 hours before we need to be is counterproductive and is exhausting.”
The approach this time around is business-like — stress-free until game time.
“We know our routine is 45 minutes before that baseball game starts we clock in and start our work routine so we know that at game time (we) start to go to work,” Kaup said. “That is kind of how we try to approach that. We can’t win the game we play on Friday on Wednesday in practice.”