Walk-off winner

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FORT RECOVERY — Nick Thwaits did all he could on the mound, but the offense didn’t provide much help

He, too, struggled at the plate on Thursday.

As he left the on-deck circle in the bottom of the eighth inning with the best chance either team had all night to score a run, he replayed the situation he had put himself in plenty of times before.

He saw himself standing in the batter’s box with the opportunity to drive in the winning run.

Much like his visions, he came through.

Thwaits lined the first pitch he saw from Blue Jay reliever Troy Elwer up the middle to score Riley Post from third base for a walk-off single as the Fort Recovery High School baseball team defeated St. John’s 1-0 in the Midwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

“Mentally you have to put yourself in that spot when you’re driving (or) when you’re in the (batting) cage,” said Thwaits, who was 0-for-3 with a strikeout before redeeming himself in the extra frame. “Anytime you can put yourself in that spot you can prepare for it so when it actually happens you’ve gone through it thousands of times.”

Thwaits bats third in the lineup, and got to the plate thanks to a bit of luck and some solid execution by Fort Recovery (4-1, 1-0 MAC). Post, who came off the bench as a defensive replacement, led off the inning and reached on an error by the St. John’s third baseman. Post stole second on the first pitch to Cade Wendel, who then bunted down the third base line and beat the throw to first to give the Indians runners at the corners with no outs.

St. John’s (1-4, 0-1 MAC) elected to intentionally walk Will Homan to load the bases and bring Thwaits to the dish.

The Kent State commit was just trying to get something to the outfield to bring Post home. Elwer threw him an off-speed pitch that he rifled up the box to end the game.

“He is a very good ballplayer,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup. “He just stayed back, kept his weight back long enough, then shifted and just crushed that ball.”

On three previous occasions the Indians had a runner at third base but failed to drive him in. Wendel, who got the win in relief on the mound, hit a one-out double in the second inning before swiping third but was left there.

In the next inning, Ben Homan drew a leadoff walk and reached third on a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch, but he too didn’t advance any further. Then in the bottom of the seventh Reese Rogers hit a blooper to left field, moved to second on a botched pickoff attempt and third on a wild pitch.

He too, was left standing 90 feet away.

But with another chance in the home half of the eighth, Thwaits and the Indians didn’t botch the opportunity yet again.

“It shows we’re not going to give in,” said Thwaits, who allowed one hit and one walk while striking out eight in five innings. “We’re going to keep battling. We lost to them last year in a similar game like this, so it really shows we’re not going to give in.”

Wendel, who finished with three hits at the plate, was solid in his relief role. He struck out three, didn’t allow a walk and surrendered two hits.

“My job was to go in, throw strikes and get outs,” said Wendel. “Nick came in before, our best pitcher, and he came in dealing. Then I came in and just tried to throw strikes.”

Despite a few errors defensively, Fort Recovery’s defense was solid in limiting chances for St. John’s, which didn’t get its first hit until there was one out in the fourth inning. The Blue Jays only had multiple base runners once, in the fourth inning, but no one touched third.

“Our defense was pretty solid,” Kaup said. “Couple of mishaps, but our defense was solid overall … Tough ballgame. We’re happy to be on top. It’s league baseball.”