Ending in the eighth

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians and the Panthers locked themselves into a pitchers’ duel.

The Indians had already blown two opportunities with runners in scoring position, but with a man on second and two outs, Caden Grisez wasn’t going to allow a ninth inning.

Grisez delivered the walk-off single to lift the Fort Recovery High School baseball team over the Parkway Panthers 1-0 in eight innings Friday.

The Indians (1-1, 1-0 Midwest Athletic Conference), started off on the wrong foot in the bottom of the eighth inning with a strikeout.

Parkway pitcher Braxton Ford utilized the momentum to get two quick strikes on Reece Wendel as well. The sophomore battled off two more pitches before Ford finally gave him one to hit, which he drove to the left-center field gap for a double.

Troy Homan got rung up on a close call to bring Grisez up to the plate with two outs and the winning run on second.

“I felt comfortable at the plate,” Grisez said. “Just wanted to put the ball in play and see what happens.”

That’s exactly what the junior did.

Wasting no time, Grisez swung at the first pitch, placing a line drive between the Panthers’ third baseman and shortstop. He hit the ball just hard enough to get through the infield but softly enough for it to slowly roll along the outfield grass before Trent Rollins could grab the ball in left field.

Wendel had more than enough time to race from second to home and score the winning run, igniting the celebration from the Indians’ dugout.

“I started to stay back on the ball better in the sixth (inning),” Grisez said. “I finally got a pitch I liked and I put it in left-center. I was sitting fastball the whole time, saw it and drove it in.

“It was great. I imagined that when I went up to the plate and it felt awesome.”

To even get to the eighth inning, it took a strong effort from Alex Dues on the mound. The senior went the distance for the Indians, tossing 92 total pitches.

Dues only allowed six batters to reach base in the game on three singles, two walks and one hit by pitch. Only twice did a runner reach second base. The first time, Devon Crouch got nicked by a pitch to reach first and then swiped second base. Dues responded by striking out the next three Panthers to end the inning.

The seventh inning opened with Ford drawing a walk on six pitches and advancing on a sacrifice bunt by Jacoby Triplett. Dues struck out the next batter and got the final out on a fly ball that Sage Wendel tracked down behind first base.

Dues ended with only two walks and three hits while punching out eight batters to secure the win for the Indians.

“My offspeed was really moving today and I got it to finally get going,” Dues said. “I knew that I had to keep things exactly the same and just keep going one inning at a time and one batter at a time.”

FRHS shortstop Alex Gaerke fields a ground ball during Friday’s 1-0 win over the Parkway Panthers. The Indians didn’t commit a single error in the game as they picked up their first win of the season and move to 1-0 in the Midwest Athletic Conference. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Neither team had played in over a week as Fort Recovery’s last game — a 4-1 loss to Celina — occurred on March 25, while Parkway (2-1, 0-1 MAC) hadn’t played since a 2-0 win over Celina on March 28. The Indians had games canceled March 30 against Crestview and Monday against Lehman Catholic because of rain.

FRHS coach Kevin Eyink admitted to having some concerns about the state of his team after the 10-day break.

“It was not a good feeling,” Eyink said. “I didn't feel real confident about our game skills, because we haven't been on the field a lot. I was a little nervous about that.”

Those concerns went away quickly as Dues’ effort led the Indians and the defense backed him up without committing an error.

Despite having runners at the corners twice and not getting the run across, Eyink was happy with his team’s performance, especially considering a lack of major errors on the Panthers’ side.

“That’s a huge goal to win these MAC games and have a chance to win the MAC,” Eyink said. “Parkway is a really good team and had a great outing. They really made no mistakes and were fundamentally sound.

“Everybody is going to be that way, so to get one in extra innings 1-0 feels really good.”