The boiling point

PLEASANT HILL, Ohio — After an early mistake, the Indians had to play from behind by two runs.

But after that first inning, the Tribe began to bubble as the momentum slowly crept onto its side.

First it was cutting the lead in half in the top of the second inning. Then Caden Grisez escaped jams in the bottom of the second and third. Finally, things boiled over in favor of the Indians as Gavin Evers delivered an RBI single that tied the game and gave the Tribe control.

The second-seeded Fort Recovery High School baseball team slowly built momentum after a tough first inning to beat the top-seeded Summit Country Day Silver Knights 6-2 in the OHSAA Division VI Region 24 semifinal hosted by Newton on Tuesday afternoon.

The victory earned the Indians (19-8) a spot in the regional final for the second consecutive season, where it faced Fairview, the top seed out of the Northwest 5 district on Wednesday.

“The kids just played hard,” said FRHS coach Kevin Eyink. “They played for each other. The defense was phenomenal. They made some great plays behind Caden (Grisez) and got us out of some tough jams with guys on base. And Caden is a tough kid who’s going to battle through everything, so great job by him.”

The Tribe got slightly deflated early on as a pair of runs came in for the Silver Knights (18-11) in the bottom of the first inning. Grisez hit Jack Phillabaum, the first batter, before a sacrifice bunt moved him over and he scored on an error. Bryce McNair, the player who reached base on an error, eventually came in to score as well on a sacrifice fly to Evers in left field.

The Indians didn’t let the minor setback bother them too much as they immediately got to work in the top of the second by cutting the lead in half on a groundout by Caden Homan.

While the run didn’t hurt, it was Grisez’s work on the bump that started to truly build some momentum for the Tribe.

Grisez started the second inning with a strikeout, but gave up a single, hit a batter and issued a walk to load the bases with only one out. Despite the threat, Grisez got out of the inning by inducing a shallow fly ball in center field that didn’t allow Cole Reinhard to tag up on due to the fear of Reece Wendel’s arm and getting Lucas Reder to roll a pitch over to Alex Gaerke at third base, who stepped on the bag for the force.

Similar to the second inning, Grisez started the third with a strikeout before loading the bases with a hit and two walks. This time around, Grisez punched out Reinhard for the second out and then got Phillabaum to tap the fall 30 feet so the FRHS senior could pick it up and toss it to Homan at first.

“It is purely momentum,” said Grisez, who earned the win after surrendering two unearned runs on four hits in 6 ⅓ innings. “The dugout was getting into it and I was getting more confidence. That strikeout and groundout to get out of that jam in the third inning really gives you momentum as a team and that carries into hitting too.”

Escaping the two jams brought Fort Recovery dugout to a simmer and all it needed was a little bit of offensive success to boil over.

That offense came from Evers’ bat.

Prior to Evers’ at bat, two Indians got out while Gaerke hit a single and Brodie Hart reached base on a walk. Evers watched the first pitch go by for a strike, but ripped the second one down the third base line past the outstretched glove of Reder. As Hayden Siefring – he pinch ran for Gaerke – crossed home plate to tie the game, Evers belted an exclamation and the dugout exploded with cheers.

“We had two guys on and I was waiting for my pitch,” Evers said. “He gave it to me, I trusted myself and I put it right down the line and it happened to get through.”

FRHS center fielder Reece Wendel tracks down a fly ball during the OHSAA Division VI Region 24 semifinal on Tuesday. The 6-2 victory against the Silver Knights advanced the Indians to Wednesday’s regional final where they had a shot at punching their second straight trip to state. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Fort Recovery didn’t manage to take the lead in the fourth inning, but in the bottom half, Grisez retired the Silver Knights in order for the first time of the game.

Gavin Miller was on pace to do the same to the Indians in the fifth inning, but Mason Diller got all the way to second base on a Charlie Ritch throwing error. The Tribe immediately took advantage as Grisez singled on the second pitch to left field to plate Diller and take a 3-2 lead. The inning was again extended by an error that allowed Gaerke to reach base before Hart gave FRHS a two-run advantage with a single to shallow left field.

“We put together a nice inning there,” Eyink said. “We’ve talked about being in that situation other times this year. Just be confident, keep your approach up there at the plate and good things will happen. We hit some balls hard, they misplayed a couple and good things happened.”

Fort Recovery added two more insurance runs in the seventh inning on a Gaerke double and a Homan single.

Summit Country Day got runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings, but ran into outs at third base in both innings.

Grisez secured the first out of the seventh inning on a fly ball to Wendel and threw the first nine pitches to Rylan Gentry before he hit the pitch limit and Eyink went to Dylan Klenke. The junior got Gentry to ground out on the 10th pitch of the at bat, but walked Keller Minton on four pitches. Klenke balked to advance Minton to second, but he got Alex Johnson to hit a groundout that he fielded himself.