Shinabery shines in pitching debut

CELINA, Ohio — Kody Shinabery has seen his fair share of stellar pitching performances.

Being behind the plate to catch a current professional and two college players leads to many such chances.

Shinabery saw another solid outing Monday night.

His own.

Shinabery dominated the first four innings and shut down the Bulldogs when he re-entered in the sixth on Monday in helping the Fort Recovery High School baseball team open its 2019 campaign by holding on to beat Celina 8-5 at Montgomery Field .

“It was a little different than usual,” said Indian senior Shinabery, who made his debut on the rubber after spending the better part of the last three years behind the plate. “All the notes that I've seen from Nick (Thwaits) and Cade (Wendel) just kind of wore off.”

Thwaits, a two-time Midwest Athletic Conference player of the year, is pitching professionally in the San Diego Padres organization. Wendel, a first team All-MAC player last year, now throws for Lake Erie Community College. Shinabery also caught Edison State Community College freshman Reese Rogers.

Shinabery struck out the first batter he faced and retired five in a row. He issued a two-out walk in the second inning before striking out Nash Weimert to end the frame. He then retired the Bulldogs (1-1) in order in the third before Caden Highly broke up his no-hit bid to start the fourth.

“Butterflies in the beginning but that was about it,” Shinabery said, who added he was unaware until postgame he hadn't allowed a hit through his first three innings. “Once I got on I just went completely numb.”

At the plate in the top of the first inning, Joe Homan and Shinabery both hit two-out RBIs to give the Indians (1-0) their advantage. One frame later, Owen Schoen reached base on a walk and then Homan drove in a pair with a double to center field.

Ryne Post smacked a single to the outfield to score two runs with two outs in the top of the fifth, and he scored on an outfield error to push the Tribe's lead to 8-0.

On a chilly, windy evening, Fort Recovery coach Jerry Kaup pulled Shinabery after four innings and 64 pitches in favor of Riley Post, who then struggled to find the strike zone. Post walked the first four batters he faced, allowing the Bulldogs to put a run on the board, but he induced a weak grounder back to the mound for a 1-2-3 double play and notched a strikeout to end any further threat.

Post walked three more and hit a pair of batters without recording an out in the sixth, forcing Kaup to go back to Shinabery with bases juiced.

“It's cold out here the beginning of the season and we had gotten four good innings from him,” Kaup said. “We wanted to give another young man a chance. It's early in the year. We didn't want to over-pitch him. Riley was struggling. We had to bring Kody back in and Kody finished strong.”

Consecutive RBI fielder's choice ground outs with bases loaded brought the Bulldogs to within three, 8-5, but Shinabery fanned Branson Miller to end the threat and only surrendered a one-out walk in the seventh as he finished what he started.

In all, Shinabery tossed six scoreless innings, gave up four hits while striking out five and walking a pair.

“He was terrific tonight,” Kaup said of the team's only senior.

Riley Post and Homan both had a pair of hits for the Indians, and Homan finished with three RBIs.

“I was also pleased with the way we hit the ball and some of our approaches at the plate,” Kaup said. “A lot of these guys are seeing varsity pitching for the very first time so their one or two at bats are not very good.

“We hope to get better.”

Reid Harter had a two-hit day for Celina. Grant Wagner, Parker Maurer, Brandon Staugler and Highly each drove in runs.