Indians put team first vs. Celina

It’s the top of the ninth inning, there are two outs and the bases are loaded.
What do you do?
Swing away, be the hero to drive in the go-ahead run?
As kids, we all wanted to be the savior, the one to put the team on our shoulders and get a victory.
Monday night in Celina, Ohio, Fort Recovery High School senior Ross Homan was faced with that dilemma against the host Bulldogs.
Full count. Two outs. Game tied.
Teammate Jacob Homan was standing 90 feet away on third base, representing the go-ahead run. Kyle Schroer was on second, and Chase Bruns on first.
Does the senior swing?
Ross Homan kept the bat on his shoulder as Kole Murlin’s pitch missed high and away.
Ball four.
Run scored.
Indians take an 8-7 lead.
Younger brother Will Homan followed suit, walking on four straight pitches, bringing home Schroer as the eventual game-winning run.
It’s the patience FRHS coach Jerry Kaup has instilled in his squad over the past couple of years.
“We do a good job of keeping our hands back and we don’t want to help the other team,” he said. The Indians drew 13 walks, including five straight in the ninth inning and three in a row with bases loaded to score three runs, as they defeated the Bulldogs 10-8 in nine innings. “We want the other team to get us out.
“It’s a pretty simple philosophy as far as how many free bases you can get and who wins the free-base war. We understand which are free bases and which aren’t.”
Schroer, who walked four times Monday and saw five or more pitches in each of his five plate appearances, talked about the altruistic nature of his team against Celina.
“We’re unselfish,” he said. “We don’t think ‘It needs to be me that needs to go out and win this game.’ We trust each other. We trust in each other that we’re going to make a play or let (the opponent) screw up.”
And that’s what the Indians did, and how they were able to beat the Bulldogs. Five of the 13 players who walked came around to score.
Four games into my third spring season in this area, I’ve been to 80 baseball or softball games. Every one had at least one walk by either team. Both teams combined to walk 10 or more times in 15 of those 80 games.
On four occasions, one team had 10-plus walks. The first was April 28, 2014, when the Jay County softball team allowed 10 walks in an 8-3 win against Muncie Central. The second was May 12 of that same year, when the FRHS baseball team walked 11 times in a 15-0 sectional final victory against Lincolnview Lancers. On April 6, 2015, Jay County’s baseball team walked 11 times in a 15-0 win over Anderson Prep.
Fort Recovery and Celina combined for 21 walks, eight more than any game in two seasons, including high school summer league and the Portland Rockets.
Walks are crucial.
Schroer also touched on the significance in a drawing free pass.
“That’s important in any game,” he said. “If you’re not patient then you’re striking out, most likely, or you’re getting behind in the count. You’re not in a good situation and you’re not comfortable.”
Baseball and softball coaches often say the most important pitch in the game is the next one — not what happened three innings ago, the last at bat or the previous pitch, but the next one.
Cade Wendel and Chase Bruns showed that Monday night.
Bruns was on the mound to pitch in relief, and he was facing Celina’s CJ Kimmel in the bottom of the ninth.
There was one out and the bases were loaded with the winning run standing on third base. Before that at bat, Kimmel was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Bruns had walked a batter, gotten a strikeout on three straight pitches, given up a double then intentionally walked two more hitters to fill the bases.
It didn’t matter that Kimmel had three hits. It didn’t matter that the player representing the winning run could taste the plate.
Bruns was focused on the next pitch, and then the next one.
Kimmel went down on strikes, as did his teammate Kevin McGohan to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, Wendel approached the plate with bases loaded, the Indians on top, 9-7. He was 0-for-4 on the night with strikeouts in each of his first three at bats.
Those strikeouts didn’t matter. His ground out to the first baseman during the fifth inning didn’t matter.
Wendel was focused on the next pitch, and then the next one.
The sophomore leadoff hitter walked on five pitches, plating the Indians’ final run of the evening.
“Cade is a baseball player and I think he has a lot of experience,” Kaup said. Despite the fact the youngster had struggled at the plate until then, Kaup wasn’t fazed. “We have confidence in him. I think he has confidence in himself. He’d like to do more, like to do better.
“But we feel he will when maybe some of the other guys are having a little struggle. Baseball is a game of struggles.”
Monday, no one tried to be the hero. It just turned out Will Homan was credited with being one.