Hail ends game early

FORT RECOVERY — Light showers fell over the BattleGrounds during the second inning.

The Indians felt like they had a storm cloud over their heads in the fourth inning.

One actually appeared in the fifth.

Hail rained down on Tuesday afternoon while soaking the infield, resulting in the game between the Fort Recovery High School baseball team and the Versailles Tigers to be suspended until a later date.

At the time of the storm, the Tigers led the Indians 4-0 with two outs and two runners on in the top of the fifth inning. Because the game did not complete the fifth inning, it could not stand alone but will have to be resumed at a later date.

Versailles (5-2, 0-0 Midwest Athletic Conference) did all of their damage to FRHS (2-1, 1-0 MAC) in the fourth inning. After only allowing one baserunner per inning through the first three, batted around due to a handful of mistakes.

“I’m a bit disappointed with the bad inning in the fourth,” FRHS coach Kevin Eyink said. “We were playing really well with guys making nice plays and Alex (Dues) pitching really well. Then for whatever reason, three errors in the inning there and that one bad inning really puts you down.”

Fort Recovery High School senior Sage Wendel fields a ground ball during the Indians game against Versailles. Fort Recovery trailed the Tigers 4-0 when the game was suspended in the fifth inning due to weather. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

A.J. Griesdorn led off the inning with a single to right-center field. Joel Gehret followed the single with a bunt that moved the runners to third and second off of an error by pitcher Alex Dues. Matt Subler then drew a walk to load the bases with zero outs.

The first run scored off of another error, this time committed by second baseman Sage Wendel who overthrew Riggs Tobe at home plate for a force out. 

Gehret soon scored on a passed ball before Carson Bergman hit a sacrifice fly to push Subler across the plate. 

A third error on a low throw from shortstop Alex Gaerke allowed the final run to score before a 1-6 fielder’s choice, walk and strikeout closed out the inning.

“I think the first two errors were just fundamentals,” Eyink said. “It led to a couple of bad throws. Then our heads are down and it just builds on each other.”

The Indians nearly earned some of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth, but couldn’t get the job done.

Caden Grisez and Gavin Faller both started the inning with singles before Troy Homan reached on a fielder’s choice with no outs. Griesdorn then worked a popup to Gehret in the foul ground just beyond third base and two strikeouts to hold FRHS scoreless.

To start the fifth, Dues struck out Griesdorn and got Gehret to roll over a ground ball to second base. Subler and Chase Monnin both hit singles to put pressure back on Dues.

Dues delivered two balls to Bergman before the hail started coming down, prompting the umpires to send the teams back to their dugouts and the Indians to scramble to get tarps over the mound and home plate. After the rain cleared, it was determined that the rest of the infield was too wet to continue play.

One benefit to the weather delay is that the Indians will get a chance to regroup, while giving Dues, their ace, the chance to rest and come back in at full strength.

“It’s kind of weird and you’re basically starting over like a new game,” Eyink said. “It’s a good opportunity for us to regroup and start over again. We’ve hopefully come out fresh and have a chance to bounce back.”