Tribe rebounds

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians had dropped their first conference game of the season just 24 hours before they had to take on the Rockets.

A hit by pitch, a towering double and miscommunication on a bunt for an infield single put the Tribe behind in the top of the first inning.

It would have been easy to get down on themselves, but instead they picked themselves up and turned in a solid performance all around.

The Fort Recovery High School baseball team bounced back from a loss to Marion Local with a 6-3 victory over the Anna Rockets on Friday.

On Thursday, Fort Recovery (4-2, 0-1 Midwest Athletic Conference) lost the first conference game of the year on a walk-off error after taking the Flyers into extra innings. However, the Indians didn’t let the recent loss or the early deficit get them down.

“That’s awesome and what we’re hoping to see,” said FRHS coach Kevin Eyink. “These guys didn’t let (that loss) get them down and took a great approach those early innings at the plate and really had some really nice hits and got that early lead that kept us going.”

After Noah Aufderhaar’s RBI single in the top of the first inning, Caden Homan struck out Zeb Pleiman to strand runners on first and third. The Tribe then immediately struck back to tie the score.

Reece Wendel got plunked on Zack Pleiman’s first pitch of the game to reach base and moved over to third on a walk from Mason Diller and a Caden Grisez ground out

 Homan then made up for his pitching mistake by legging out a single on a chopping ground ball to Zach Osborn at shortstop, allowing Wendel to reach home plate.

By the end of the second inning, Fort Recovery had a 4-1 lead on AHS (4-3). Austin Siegrist got the frame started with a single through the left side and then traded places with Gavin Evers on a fielder's choice. Colson Post followed with an infield hit to second base to put Evers in scoring position and Wendel got the ball through the left half of the infield to score the Tribe senior. Both Post and Wendel came in to score on a Mason Diller single to left field.

Two more runs came in the third frame. Alex Gaerke and Brody Hart got the ball rolling with back-to-back singles up the middle. Siegrist then legged out a bunt for an infield single that scored Gaerke — he had to maneuver past catcher Zeb Pleiman to avoid the tag — but Hart got caught trying to take third base.

Siegrist, who finished 2-for-2 with a walk, a run, an RBI and two stolen bases, swiped second and moved to third on an Evers single. Post finished the Tribe’s scoring with a ball hit to first base that allowed Siegrist to head home.

“It was pretty good to keep the runs going,” said Siegrist of the first three innings. “We kept pressure on the pitcher. … I was just seeing the ball out of the pitcher’s hand and he was throwing strikes. So being aggressive, hitting and looking for the pitch you want (worked well).”

Homan earned the win for Fort Recovery, tossing four innings and only allowing one run on three hits, one walk and three hit batters.

The junior got into a slight jam in the second inning after walking Kale Hoying and giving up a bloop single to Clay Cummins. Homan started to work through the trouble by striking out Ethan Egbert on three pitches before catching Carson Worthington looking in the next at bat. Homan hit the next batter, leading to Hart coming to the mound to talk. After the mound visit, Homan sent Carson Pleiman back to the dugout with another looking strikeout to end the inning with no harm done.

“My defense makes me feel good about it,” said Homan, referencing that his team made no errors during the four innings he was on the mound. “I have all my trust in them and then my coaches and other teammates are supportive. They give me that extra energy that I need, that extra motivation to just go at them like I have nothing to lose.”

Post finished off the game for FRHS on the mound, making quick work of the Rockets in the fifth and sixth innings to hold the 6-1 lead.

Post, who made his first varsity pitching appearance, ran into a little bit of trouble in the seventh as a hit batter and an error put the first two hitters on base. A ground out to Caden Grisez at shortstop moved the runners up before Aiden Keller drove in a run with an infield single.

While Zeb Pleiman’s groundout scored a second run, Post turned the water off with a third dribbler to Grisez to end the game.

“That’s great that we can get a little depth there,” said Eyink, referring to his team’s pitching. (Fort Recovery’s top three pitchers were unable to go as two had pitched on Thursday and another is nursing a hurt arm.) “In some of these non-MAC games that can be huge for us to stay competitive in those as well.”

Marion Local 3,

Fort Recovery 2

MARIA STEIN, Ohio — The Indians fell in the Midwest Athletic Conference season opener 3-2 to the Marion Local Flyers in eight innings on Thursday.

After giving up a run in the bottom of the first inning, FRHS took a 2-1 lead on a Post ground ball that scored Siegrest in the third and a Gaerke single in the fourth.

Small ball helped the Flyers (4-0, 1-0 MAC) as Parker Hess led off with a single, moved to second base on a groundout and to third on a fly out. After a walk extended the inning, Hess made it home on a wild pitch by Gaerke.

MLHS caught a break in the eighth inning as Hess reached base on an error and a walk moved him to second. The game winning run was scored on another error.

Jacob Foote was saddled with the loss after giving up one unearned run on three walks and no hits.