Boughman blanks Lancers

FORT RECOVERY — Hunter Boughman is not a pitcher who is going to blow strikes by opposing hitters.
The Lancers still had a difficult time figuring him out.
Boughman, a junior southpaw, scattered three hits over five scoreless innings and got a lot of help on offense Tuesday as the Fort Recovery High School baseball team blasted the Lincolnview Lancers 12-0 in five innings.
“Hunter was great tonight,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup, whose team moves to 3-1 and travels to Greenville at 5 p.m. Friday. “Once he got through the first inning we got him a couple runs. He had a cushion.
“Hunter pitches to contact. We got comfortable with the lead and he was wonderful.”
He allowed six base runners — only one advanced as far as third — struck out five and didn’t walk a single batter.
“I was feeling good,” Boughman said. He threw 47 of his 62 pitches for strikes. “I just thought all game I needed to throw strikes. We have a great defense, great outfield.”
The only major threat offensively for the Lancers (0-1) came during the second inning. Boughman hit Jaden Youtsey with one out. A strikeout and a stolen base later, Youtsey was standing on second, and then advanced to third on a single by Dustin Hale to give Lincolnview runners at the corners. But Boughman got Keli Ralston to strike out swinging.
Boughman gave up a single to Cole Schmersal to open the third inning. Two batters later Kyle Schroer caught a fly ball in shallow left field and threw a seed to Jackson Hobbs at first to double off Schmersal, who had wandered too far toward second base.
“Kyle did a good job out there,” Boughman said. Schroer later had an assist in the fourth inning, hitting shortstop Cade Wendel who tagged out Austin Leeth trying to stretch a single into a double. “(The defense) did a good job al around.”
The Indians were just as stout offensively, striking for three runs in the first inning. A Ben Homan double and single from Jackson Hobbs — he later swiped second for a stolen base — put two runners in scoring position with one out, and Jacob Homan smacked a two-run single to get the Tribe on the board.
The next batter, Boughman helped himself by ripping a double to score Jacob Homan for a 3-0 Fort Recovery advantage.
But the third inning is when the Indians really put the game out of reach, scoring four runs before getting out for the first time.
Ben Homan and Schroer each had two-run singles, and Hobbs also drove in a run, helping Fort Recovery send 14 batters to the plate and score nine times. Ben Homan was 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs, a day after he was hitless in five at bats in a 10-8, extra-inning win at Celina.
“He uses the bat appropriately,” Kaup said of the sophomore. “He has some pop in it. He is a great No. 2 (hitter).”
The fifth run of the inning chased Lincolnview starter Ethan Parsons from the game. He was charged with 10 runs — nine earned — on seven hits and walked four in 2 1/3 innings. Ethan Kemler entered in relief and allowed two more runs in the frame.
“Everybody in the lineup did a great job,” said Kaup.
The Indians had a dozen hits spread through the lineup. Ben Homan and brother Jacob (two) were the only players to record multi-hit games.
“We’ve been striking out a lot so our goal tonight was to put the ball in play and not swing quite as overly aggressive,” Kaup said. Through its first three games, Fort Recovery struck out 24 times, half of which were in the nine-inning win against Celina. “I think we did a nice job of that and it certainly showed on the scoreboard.”