ELIDA, Ohio – Five errors is not exactly a recipe for victory, particularly at the Division IV baseball regional semifinal.
But Fort Recovery lived up to its namesake and recovered from those miscues to blast Montpelier, 14-4, on Thursday at Ed Sandy Field in Elida.
“We just didn’t do the little things right. There were some throwing mistakes. Those errors don’t show up on the board,” said Montpelier coach Toby Hutchinson, whose team had four errors of their own.
“In a situation like this, you have to play good baseball, and I think we gave them opportunities. They hit the ball well and they’re a good team.”
The Indians’ Alex Dues remained calm and pitched to contact most of the night. The problem for the Locomotives: the contact was often right to where Fort Recovery was playing.
“Usually, my strategy is to strike guys out and then make plays but, today, I was just filling up the strike zone and letting our defense make plays,” Dues said. “Obviously, it worked. My curveball is a lot slower than my fastball and, when it breaks, it breaks late. … If they do square it up, congratulations, but it’s usually a pop fly or a ground out, which is my goal. Not to strike people out on it.”
The senior side-armer went the distance for the Indians (14-12), striking out three, walking two, hitting another, and scattering six hits.
“Alex was able to kind of limit some of the mistakes we made in the field. Five errors, we definitely don’t want to see that,” Fort Recovery coach Kevin Eyink said. “He kind of limited things and didn’t get himself upset. When we had second chances to make plays, we made them and things kind of came around at the end of the game.”
Fort Recovery scored a run in the first and another in the second to take an 2-0 lead.
Montpelier (13-10) struck back in the bottom of the second with three runs. The Locomotives took advantage of two errors on the same play when Griffin Cooley reached on an error by Alex Gaerke. Two runs scored on the play, and another scored a batter later when Kenneth Smeltzer grounded out to first.
Hutchinson said he thought the train was back on the tracks at that point.
“They fought back and, when we took the lead on them, I thought we were going to stay competitive but once they scored that big inning [it was over],” Hutchinson said.
Two innings later, Fort Recovery tied the game. Gaerke doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Caden Grisez groundout.
In the fifth inning, Smeltzer labored through the whole lineup as the Indians scored five runs in the inning. With two on, Caden Homan singled in a run. After a sacrifice put runners on second and third, Grisez doubled in two more runs and Gavin Faller doubled in another. Faller scored on a single by Riggs Tobe.
After opening the sixth inning with a single to Troy Homan and a four-pitch walk to Reece Wendel, Smeltzer left the game. Those two runners came in to score against Landon Fackler, who loaded the bases with a walk.
Gaerke forced in a run when he was plunked by a Fackler fastball, and Grisez drove in another on a fielder’s choice.
Montpelier got a run back in the sixth when Wesley Hartsock reached on an error and scored on another error.
Fort Recovery delivered the knockout in the seventh by batting around and scoring four more runs.
“We came out to an early lead and let them back in and our guys stuck with it,” Eyink said. “It kind of was what we talked about. Stay calm. Stay collected. Keep taking a good approach at the plate and things will come around. They stuck with it and it paid off.”
Hutchinson said this was new territory for his team.
“When you get this far down the road, you have to play clean baseball. These teams are going to be good and do the little things right and its been a while since we’ve been here,” Hutchinson said.
“I blame a little of it on inexperience. We only have two seniors and two juniors, so I have a majority of sophomores and freshmen playing for us.”
Fort Recovery moves on to face Leipsic, who blanked Riverdale in the opener, 10-0.
First Published May 31, 2024, 1:41 a.m.