Homan, Evers lift Indians past Memorial

ST. MARYS, Ohio — The Tribe couldn’t put the Roughriders away in regulation.

Neither team could break through in the first free inning, but three runs in the top of the ninth lifted the Indians to victory.

Caden Homan and Gavin Evers came through for the Fort Recovery High School baseball team on Tuesday to beat the Memorial Roughriders 8-6 in nine innings.

The Indians (14-6) put up two runs in the first and second innings and tacked on a fifth in the sixth inning. Memorial (12-7) matched FRHS with a pair of runs in the third and fourth and a final in the sixth frame to force extra innings.

The Tribe loaded the bases with only one out as Caden Grisez hit a single, Alex Gaerke reached on an error and Brodie Hart drew a walk in the ninth inning.

Homan followed with a ground ball to third base that resulted in a fielder’s choice with all four Indians safe to take a 6-5 lead. Three pitches later, Evers roped a line drive to right field to score Gaerke and Hart.

In the bottom of the ninth, MHS loaded the bases on Grisez with an error, a single and a walk while only suffering one out. Homan took over for Grisez on the mound and struck out the next batter to bring the Roughriders to their final out. While they managed to score on a passed ball, Homan induced a fly out to end the game and earn the save.

Grisez earned the win after throwing 2 ⅔ innings, giving up one earned run on one hit and three walks.

Rain delayed

COLDWATER, Ohio — The Fort Recovery track competed at the Midwest Athletic Conference Championship prelims on Tuesday before it got postponed partway through due to weather.

Six events and two prelims were completed before the meet was cancelled. The meet will resume on Friday where it left off before starting the finals.

After the abbreviated preliminary meet, the Fort Recovery girls are tied with St. John’s for eighth place with four points scored, while Versailles leads the pack with 23. The Tribe boys didn’t score any points while Minster leads the pack with 22.5.

Karlie Niekamp netted the Indians’ only points thus far. She finished fifth in the shot put with a distance of 31 feet, 11 inches. Brynn Egbert of New Knoxville won the event with a throw of 35 feet flat.

After the prelims, Madison Heitkamp is primed to score some more points for FRHS in the 100-meter hurdles. The junior finished seventh with a qualifying time of 17.55 seconds.

Another pair of Indians fell short of making the finals in their respective field events.

Carson Fullenkamp placed 11th in the discus — the top nine qualified for the finals — with a mark of 118 feet, 4 inches. The last spot in the finals went to New Bremen’s Parker Ashman with a 123 feet, 1 inch toss.

Freshman Alivia Brunswick placed 13th in the MAC in the girls long jump with a distance of 14 feet, 6 ½ inches. She fell 10 ½ inches short of the ninth place, which went to St. Henry’s Emma Snyder.