May 27, 2016 at 5:47 p.m.

Tribe advances to final

Hobbs hits two doubles, drives in four in 7-5 win
Tribe advances to final
Tribe advances to final

HAMLER, Ohio — Jackson Hobbs has been the Tribe’s leader from the pitcher’s mound all season.
On Thursday, he used his bat as well.
Hobbs had two doubles and drove in four runs, and his pitching mate Nick Thwaits had a clean seventh inning as the Fort Recovery High School baseball team defeated the Ayersville Pilots 7-5 in the Division IV regional semifinal at Patrick Henry’s Garrold Parratt Field.
The 10th-ranked Indians meet No. 3 Kalida at 5 p.m. tonight. The Wildcats, who have won 20 straight games, defeated New London 4-3 in the other semifinal.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Hobbs, who notched his 30th career victory in 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs — two earned — on four hits. “I have been struggling lately. Just going back to the cage and practicing with my dad (assistant coach Jeff Hobbs).”
So how was Hobbs able to see the ball so well, hitting an RBI double in the third inning to break a scoreless tie, then adding a two-run two-bagger in the fifth?
“Just have the confidence up there,” he said. “Seeing the ball and just hitting it.”
Fundamentals.
While at times they were lacking — the Indians (21-9) committed four errors, three of which came in a two-run sixth for Ayersville (18-9) — FRHS coach Jerry Kaup was able to take a big sigh of relief when Thwaits retired three straight in the seventh inning to put the Indians one win away from a return trip to state.
“That is a very good ball club,” he said. “It was a battle the whole way through. We just couldn’t distance ourselves. We had to keep coming back. The four errors on the board, those are the things that is distressing for us. But those games come along and you have to get through them.”
Coach Chad Donsbach, whose Ayersville team had four consecutive two-out hits to win its district championship game, agreed with Kaup that the Pilots were in for a dogfight.
“I thought we competed pretty hard,” he said. “Obviously Fort Recovery competed pretty hard. Every answer we had for them they had an answer for us.”
The Indians fired the first shot, on Hobbs’ RBI double in the third inning, then added another run on Jacob Homan’s chopper through the middle of the infield for a 2-0 advantage.
The Pilots refueled after the early deficit to tie the game on a two-run double in the top of the fourth inning by Tyler Brown to the gap in left center field.
“They got two right back at us and they just kept scoring,” Hobbs said. “Give us credit though. We persevered. We kept scoring runs and we kept battling.”

Fortunately for the Indians, the tie score didn’t last too much longer.
Schroer hit a one-out single in the home half of the fourth, then came around to score on a misfire from Pilot shortstop Jacob Miller. Will Homan then hit a single up the middle to drive in Chase Bruns, and the Indians were back on top by two.
Ayersville fired back with a run in the fourth to cut the deficit in half, until Hobbs responded with his two-run double to give Fort Recovery a 6-3 advantage.
“When we’re scoring runs we’re going to be tough to beat,” Hobbs said. “Up to this point we’ve scored five runs and we’re playing in the regional semifinals.”
But that’s when things started to go awry for the Indians.
Hobbs — he re-entered with the three-run cushion in the sixth inning after Thwaits pitched the fifth — and gave up a leadoff double to Dauson Dales. Then sophomore Cade Wendel came to the mound, and three errors led to Ayersville scoring two runs to get within one, 6-5.
The second error gave the Pilots a runner at second with one out, and a hard ground ball to Ross Homan at second base caromed off his body and to Jacob Homan at short, who had the wherewithal to gain his composure and throw to Bruns at the plate to throw out Ryan Martin trying to score the tying run.
“Thank heavens Jacob was able to keep his head and get the ball home,” Kaup said of the lucky ricochet. “We just happened to make one good throw and we were able to get him at the plate.
“You have to make plays to win. We had some errors, but you still have to make plays to win.”
Ross Homan, a senior, made up for the misplay in the top of the sixth, legging out an infield single to begin the home half of the inning. His sophomore brother Will walked, and after a strikeout Wendel laid down a perfect bunt to give the Indians bases loaded with one out.
Hobbs, who had three RBIs already and could easily have driven in three more, hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the final run of the game.
Thwaits, who pitched 1 2/3 innings and will likely be the starter tonight against Kalida, struck out the first two batters in the seventh and caught a pop fly near the first base line for the final out to send the Indians back to the regional final.
“It feels different than last year,” Hobbs said. “Last year we came out of nowhere. We had a great season. This year we had high expectations to get back here and to ultimately get back to Columbus.”
And despite some shaky play defensively at times, Hobbs, as well as the Indians, are happy to defend their title.
“A win is a win, especially in the tournament,” Hobbs said.
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