May 4, 2018 at 1:49 a.m.
Tribe walks off for MAC title
Thwaits throws no-hitter, Rogers drives in winning run as Indians get first MAC title
Tribe walks off for MAC title
Copyright 2018, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
FORT RECOVERY — The Indians had played second fiddle in the conference standings twice before.
On three occasions they finished third.
But they were never at the top.
Until now.
Reese Rogers drove in the game-winning run and Nick Thwaits was unstoppable on the mound as he threw the second no-hitter of his career Tuesday in the Division III No. 6 Fort Recovery High School baseball team’s 10-0 win over the New Knoxville Rangers in five innings to win the Midwest Athletic Conference championship for the first time in program history.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup, whose team finishes 7-1 in league play to share the title with the St. Henry Redskins. “It takes baby steps. Eventually you get there.
“You walk a mile with baby steps and eventually you’ll get there.”
Since joining the conference for baseball in 1978, Fort Recovery was the runner-up in both 1982 and 2015. The Tribe was third in 2000, 2001 and 2014. But it had never claimed a MAC title.
Fort Recovery (17-4) needed to knock off New Knoxville, which was at the bottom of the standings at 0-7 Thursday. Thwaits mowed down the Rangers with ease.
He threw 11 straight strikes to begin the game, fanning all three Rangers who stepped into the plate in the first inning. He needed another 11 pitches to get through the second with three more strikeouts, and sat down two more on strikes in the third.
“I was filling up the zone today,” he said. Thwaits finished with a career-high 14 strikeouts, including leaving all three batters in three separate innings walking back to the dugout as a K in the scorebook. “It felt really good. Fastball was live and in the zone. Kept pounding the zone and I got good results today.”
It was apparent from his first pitch of the day, a strike to Jack Bartholomew, he was on top of his game. That pitch caused a New Knoxville fan sitting behind home plate to say “Wow,” and he could do nothing but laugh the rest of the time during the at bat.
Getting through the order the first time gave the Kent State signee the confidence he needed for the remainder of his outing.
“It helps you be able to relax and put the ball in the zone when you know they’re struggling to catch up,” he said.
His only blemish came in the fourth inning when he lost an attempt at a perfect game. He walked Nathan Tinnerman with two outs, and Jonah Lagerman reached on a dropped third strike. Stolen bases gave New Knoxville runners in scoring position, but Thwaits struck out Jared Osborne to get out of the jam.
“Nick performed tonight like we all thought he would,” Kaup said. “Very commanding of his pitches. Overpowering. He was terrific.”
At the plate, Thwaits also had an RBI double for Fort Recovery (17-5), which jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Rogers hit an RBI single with bases loaded before a wild pitch plated another run. A fielding error off the bat of Ben Homan let Thwaits and Rogers come home.
Three more errors in the third inning helped the Indians, who only had five hits, double their lead.
Yet another mishap in the field in the bottom of the fifth made it 9-0 Fort Recovery, and a sacrifice fly advanced Homan to third as the potential game-winning run.
Rogers, who along with Homan had a pair of hits, rifled a 2-0 pitch to right field for the walk-off title.
“It was great to see us drive in the winning run,” Kaup said. “I’m tickled for Reese. I’m glad he is the one.
“We need to have playmakers and we need to be able to make the play when it’s that time. I’m really tickled that we drove in the run that won it. We were anxious and wanting to get it over.”
The foundation, Thwaits is hoping, has been set. The Indians in 2015 broke a stretch of more than six decades without a regional championship and repeated the feat a year later.
After 41 years, the MAC title drought is over.
“It’s awesome,” Thwaits said. “Of course it’s the first one in school history. Hopefully it helps build the program from here and the younger kids, they see it and they keep building and it doesn’t take as long to win another one.”
All Rights Reserved
FORT RECOVERY — The Indians had played second fiddle in the conference standings twice before.
On three occasions they finished third.
But they were never at the top.
Until now.
Reese Rogers drove in the game-winning run and Nick Thwaits was unstoppable on the mound as he threw the second no-hitter of his career Tuesday in the Division III No. 6 Fort Recovery High School baseball team’s 10-0 win over the New Knoxville Rangers in five innings to win the Midwest Athletic Conference championship for the first time in program history.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup, whose team finishes 7-1 in league play to share the title with the St. Henry Redskins. “It takes baby steps. Eventually you get there.
“You walk a mile with baby steps and eventually you’ll get there.”
Since joining the conference for baseball in 1978, Fort Recovery was the runner-up in both 1982 and 2015. The Tribe was third in 2000, 2001 and 2014. But it had never claimed a MAC title.
Fort Recovery (17-4) needed to knock off New Knoxville, which was at the bottom of the standings at 0-7 Thursday. Thwaits mowed down the Rangers with ease.
He threw 11 straight strikes to begin the game, fanning all three Rangers who stepped into the plate in the first inning. He needed another 11 pitches to get through the second with three more strikeouts, and sat down two more on strikes in the third.
“I was filling up the zone today,” he said. Thwaits finished with a career-high 14 strikeouts, including leaving all three batters in three separate innings walking back to the dugout as a K in the scorebook. “It felt really good. Fastball was live and in the zone. Kept pounding the zone and I got good results today.”
It was apparent from his first pitch of the day, a strike to Jack Bartholomew, he was on top of his game. That pitch caused a New Knoxville fan sitting behind home plate to say “Wow,” and he could do nothing but laugh the rest of the time during the at bat.
Getting through the order the first time gave the Kent State signee the confidence he needed for the remainder of his outing.
“It helps you be able to relax and put the ball in the zone when you know they’re struggling to catch up,” he said.
His only blemish came in the fourth inning when he lost an attempt at a perfect game. He walked Nathan Tinnerman with two outs, and Jonah Lagerman reached on a dropped third strike. Stolen bases gave New Knoxville runners in scoring position, but Thwaits struck out Jared Osborne to get out of the jam.
“Nick performed tonight like we all thought he would,” Kaup said. “Very commanding of his pitches. Overpowering. He was terrific.”
At the plate, Thwaits also had an RBI double for Fort Recovery (17-5), which jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Rogers hit an RBI single with bases loaded before a wild pitch plated another run. A fielding error off the bat of Ben Homan let Thwaits and Rogers come home.
Three more errors in the third inning helped the Indians, who only had five hits, double their lead.
Yet another mishap in the field in the bottom of the fifth made it 9-0 Fort Recovery, and a sacrifice fly advanced Homan to third as the potential game-winning run.
Rogers, who along with Homan had a pair of hits, rifled a 2-0 pitch to right field for the walk-off title.
“It was great to see us drive in the winning run,” Kaup said. “I’m tickled for Reese. I’m glad he is the one.
“We need to have playmakers and we need to be able to make the play when it’s that time. I’m really tickled that we drove in the run that won it. We were anxious and wanting to get it over.”
The foundation, Thwaits is hoping, has been set. The Indians in 2015 broke a stretch of more than six decades without a regional championship and repeated the feat a year later.
After 41 years, the MAC title drought is over.
“It’s awesome,” Thwaits said. “Of course it’s the first one in school history. Hopefully it helps build the program from here and the younger kids, they see it and they keep building and it doesn’t take as long to win another one.”
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