Cold day, bats and arms

CELINA, Ohio — It was just 40 degrees when the Bulldogs threw out the first pitch of the 2025 season.

As chilly as the temperature may have been, the Tribe’s bats were even colder.

Then adding in a cold arm didn’t help to the cause.

Fort Recovery High School’s baseball team couldn’t get its bats going early and a five-run fifth inning powered a 7-2 victory for the Celina Bulldogs in Monday’s season opener.

“Not how we wanted to start, we had a little higher expectation there,” said FRHS coach Kevin Eyink, who led the Indians to the state finals in 2024. “Caden (Grisez) did a nice job, but we just gave them too many chances. We had a couple errors that made him throw too many pitches and extended innings and didn’t get done what we wanted to.”

Grisez started the game on the bump for the Fort Recovery (0-1). He threw four innings, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and three walks before he was moved to shortstop. 

Shortstop Alex Gaerke and Grisez switched positions in the bottom of the fifth, but the new pitcher came in cold as he had to hit in the top half of the inning, preventing him from getting in the bullpen.

“It could be that he didn’t get a chance to warm up,” Eyink said. “He’s coming in cold and didn’t get a lot of time to get things going. We’ve been trying to get him a little more consistent, so it just wasn’t the best day for him.”

Gaerke had a shaky start giving up a single to Nick Steinbrunner and an RBI double to Wes Gerber. (Gerber reached third on his hit to deep left field after a miscommunication left third base wide open after the initial cut.)

Gerber scored on another error by Caden Homan after Schulte-Arnold hit a hard ground ball that he hesitated to throw, allowing all runners to advance safely. Gaerke walked the next batter and hit another to load the bases. The Tribe finally got a pair of outs on a RBI-groundout and a sacrifice fly. Two more walks and a passed ball would get Brady Steinbrunner across the plate before the inning ended, giving Celina (1-0) a 7-0 advantage.

Celina drew first blood in the second inning as Colten Miller, who reached base on an error by left fielder Gavin Evers, made his way around due to a pair of passed balls. 

In the next inning, Logan Sapp crossed the plate as an unearned run. Sapp reached base after getting hit by a pitch and advanced to second base on an error by Gaerke. The Indian made up for the error on the next play with a 6-3 double play while Sapp advanced to third. After a pair of walks loaded the bases, Brady Steinbrunner smacked the ball behind third base and while Homan fielded the ball cleanly, he lost the footrace to the bag with Brodee Schulte-Arnold giving up the run.

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Fort Recovery baseball at Celina (3/31/2025)

While the Bulldogs built their lead, Fort Recovery struggled to get the sticks going. Through the first five innings, the Indians had seven baserunners on two Gaerke singles, two walks, a hit by pitch, a fielder's choice and an error. Four of the seven runners made it into scoring position, but the Tribe couldn’t get the timely hitting to break through.

“First time through the lineup, we started off the hitters with fastballs,” said CHS coach John Dorner. “They’ve got some pretty good sticks and put some good swings on balls. Second time through we were able to change some things up. Threw some curveballs and some changeups in there. I think trying to change speeds on them really made a difference as the game progressed.”

The only runs the Tribe managed to generate came in the sixth inning. Mason Diller got on base with a walk and two batters later, Keegan Muhlenkamp got plunked. With two outs and two strikes, Jacob Foote pushed a ball into right field to score both runners.

“He had that good approach and was ready to hit,” Eyink said. “He got a pitch he knew he could hit and drove in two runs.”

While the Tribe didn’t have the start to the season it was hoping for, they are looking to move swiftly past the performance and improve on the mistakes they made.

“We want to fix those things,” Eyink said. “We can’t have those two mistakes that extend innings, makes our pitchers throw more. We’ve got to have a better approach at the plate and be able to hit with two strikes. … We can go fix that. This is game one, so we’ve got a long way to go.”