One day at a time

The Indians had a different look the last time they played in the regional tournament.

Kevin Eyink was an assistant coach.

Ben Homan and Ben Will were both players.

Troy Homan was a fourth grader, serving as a bat boy.

Those were the roles that current members of the Indians filled in the 2015 and 16 seasons when they made it to the regional.

Eyink now leads the program, Will and Ben Homan are assistants and Troy Homan is one of the senior leaders. Yet they still hold the same goal as the ‘15 and ‘16 teams – make it through to state.

The Fort Recovery High School baseball team kicks off the OHSAA Division IV regional tournament hosted by Elida Thursday against the Montpelier Locomotives as it looks to make it back to the state tournament for the first time since 2016.

“We feel confident,” Eyink said. “We’re playing well and things are going well for us. (Montpelier) is obviously a good team, but we have confidence going in and think we can give them a good game.”

The Indians (13-12) are riding a high after a pair of strong offensive performances against Midwest Athletic Conference teams in the district tournament. A 10-run sixth inning led FRHS to a 12-8 victory over Parkway in the opener, before a seven-run fifth inning pushed it to a 11-3 district title over Marion Local.

“I think they’ve worked hard on improving their approach at the plate,” Eyink said. “They’re seeing the ball and hitting the ball well. Put all of that together and we’re playing pretty good.”

FRHS seniors Sage Wendel (14) and Gavin Faller (27) celebrate following the Indians’ 12-8 comeback win over Parkway on May 22. The Indians are playing in the regional tournament for the first time since 2016, when they made it to the state semifinal. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Continuing to hit well, will help the Indians counter the Locomotives’ batting order that features seven players hitting 0.317 or better. Sophomore Kenneth Smeltzer leads Montpelier (13-9) with a 0.451 batting average.

The Buckeye Border Conference champions also like to run, as the Locomotives swiped 122 bases on the year. Five players have stolen bases 13 or more times, including Smeltzer with 24, who was only outdone by Griffin Cooley with 33.

Eyink plans to roll out his ace, Alex Dues, in an effort to limit the amount of runners that reach base to keep them from trying to run.

“We obviously have to win the first game,” Eyink said. “The goal is to move on. So we’ll use Alex, our best guy and hopefully he can really limit them and give us a shot to win.”

Dues mentioned feeling a mix of stress and confidence earlier in the week. He said there is inherently a level of stress that comes with pitching in high-leverage situations such as a tournament game, but he also feels confident after facing the high level of competition the MAC provides throughout the regular season.

Before Thursday's game, Dues did what he could to take a relaxed approach to keep himself centered for when he hits the mound.

“I’m just going to get some rest, eat well and bond with my team to enjoy this run and make the most of it,” Dues said. “I’m feeling great and I can’t wait for Thursday. I can’t wait to see how we’re going to do.

“I hope we get up early so it makes it less stressful than anything else.”

A win Thursday would set a date with the winner of Leipsic and Riverdale Friday at 5 p.m. Both teams have over 20 wins on the season.

Leipsic, who beat Riverdale 4-3 in early April, finished 13th in the Division IV rankings and is favored to win the game.

Caden Grisez is slated to make the start for Fort Recovery as long as he isn’t needed against Montpelier.

“The challenge of not knowing a lot about them and not having a lot of time in between to get a clue limits you a little bit,” Eyink said. “And obviously they’re really good teams to have 20 wins. … But baseball is any given day and you can have a hot day and they may not. Hopefully everybody’s on their second pitcher and that will help too.”

While there won’t be much time to digest Thursday’s result before a potential regional championship on Friday, all the Indians can do is go out and try to win each game one at a time.

Troy Homan has described the run as “magical.” While there was an internal belief from the players that they could make it this far, putting it together has been nothing short of special to many of the Indians, and they hope to extend it one more week.

“It would mean everything (to win),” Homan said. “We’re going one game at a time right now, but we don’t want to be done yet. After that game Friday night, we enjoyed it that night and a little bit Saturday morning, but right after that we were focused. We’re ready to go against Montpelier. We’re going to get two more wins so we can go on that state run.”