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Fort Recovery's Alex Gaerke slides into third as Versailles third baseman Joel Gehret applies the tag in the fifth inning of the ACME District 4 tournament at the Stockade on Thursday.
FORT RECOVERY - Thursday was a day of dominating baseball.
Fort Recovery advanced to the ACME Baseball District 4 championship game by picking up a 15-5 six-inning win over Versailles in the first game of action at the Stockade in Fort Recovery.
The Indians' opponent for Saturday will be determined tonight at 6 p.m. when Coldwater takes on the Tigers in a rematch from the first round. The Cavaliers vented their frustrations from Wednesday's loss to Versailles by run-ruling Minster 13-1 in five innings.
The championship game will be Saturday at 11 a.m. If the winner of the loser's bracket final wins, a second winner-take-all game will be played shortly after the conclusion of the first game.
Fort Recovery's Reece Evers swings at a pitch against Versailles on Thursday.
The Indians finally broke free from a tenacious Tiger squad with a four-run third inning after Versailles broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the inning.
Caden Grisez led off with a single and Gavin Faller followed with a walk before Alex Gaerke stepped up and singled home Grisez to cut the Versailles margin to 4-3. Mason Diller followed with a shot to left to score Faller and Gaerke to make it 5-4 Indians.
After a dropped fly in left put Reece Evers on base and Riggs Tobe popped out to first, Caden Homan hit a hard shot fielded by shortstop Mike Osborne, who threw to second for the force, but the throw for the double play was wild, allowing Diller to score to make it 6-4.
Alex Dues started on the mound for the Indians and allowed a two-run home run to AJ Griesdorn in the first inning, then in the third gave up a two-run single to Griesdorn that broke a 2-2 tie.
Evers came on to pitch in the fourth, allowing Dues to be available for Saturday's championship game since he only threw 38 pitches, and kept the Tigers at bay for the rest of the game. Neither Dues nor Evers walked a batter.
"The biggest thing we needed was to be efficient," said Indians coach Craig Evers. "We needed to save (Dues) for Saturday. Go out there, throw strikes and be as efficient as you can. That's exactly what he did."
Fort Recovery got insurance in the fifth after Diller singled and later came home on Homan's single. After Colson Post reached base on an error that would have been the third out, Reece Wendel singled up the middle to score Homan. Grisez then walked to load the bases for Faller, who was plunked by a pitch to bring home another run. Gaerke then doubled to clear the bases to make it 12-4.
"The kids came back. We haven't been down that much this year as far as runs, but we came out swinging," said coach Evers.
Versailles kept Fort Recovery from feeling comfortable, getting a run on a Michael Osborne single in the top of the sixth, but Tobe came up with a great throw to catch Osborne stealing.
Fort Recovery finally put the game away in the bottom of the sixth with three runs. Homan had an RBI single and Reece Wendel hit into a bases-loaded grounder. Pinch-runner Gavin Evers scored easily, but Homan avoided a tag and the throw to first was wild, allowing Homan to score and trigger the run-rule.
Reece Evers scattered five hits and a run in his three innings, needing just 44 pitches, which would make him available if needed on Saturday.
"He hasn't pitched in over a week and a half," coach Evers said of his son. "He came in and the biggest thing was throwing strikes."
The Indians collected 12 hits in the victory. Gaerke, Diller, Tobe, Homan and Wendel each had two hits with Post, who helped Fort Recovery reach the state Junior ACME finals last week, and Grisez adding a hit each.
"It's not the same kid every night," said coach Evers. "That's the biggest thing. We've talked all year about being a team, not just one person."
Griesdorn went 3-for-3 and drove in four of the Tigers' five runs. Lane Bergman and Chase Monnin each had two hits.
Minster first baseman Tyler Stueve waits for the throw as Coldwater's Cody Depweg dives back on a pickoff attempt.
After a rough night in Wednesday's loss to Versailles, the Cavaliers came out firing against the Wildcats. Braylen Harlamert led off with a single and came home when twin brother AJ tripled to the deepest part of centerfield. Mason Welsch followed with an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch.
AJ Harlamert started and walked two of the first three batters, but two quick outs quickly erased the Wildcats's chances of denting the scoreboard in the bottom of the first.
Coldwater's Braylen Harlamert rounds third on the way to score on AJ Harlamert's first-inning triple against Minster.
Minster starter Andrew Wiss struggled in the second as well, walking Brady Lefeld and hitting Miles Pottkotter with a pitch to put two on without an out. Cody Depweg followed with a single to load the bases for the top of the order and Braylen Harlamert drew a walk to score a run, bringing out Minster coach Jay Eilerman to make the mound change.
Ian Homan came on to try and stem the tide, but AJ Harlamert greeted him with a deep shot to center to double in two runs to make it 5-0. Welsch drew a walk to load the bases for Cale Wenning, who lofted a deep fly to center to score Braylen Harlamert to make it 7-0. Kenny Bailey followed with a fly to right to score AJ Harlamert and Baylen Blockberger singled home Welsch to make it 9-0.
"They were upset with last night's performance," said Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick. "We didn't play the way we normally do. When you get into the loser's bracket, your backs are against the wall. You have to come out and give it your (full) effort. Tonight we did that right from the beginning."
Brunswick pulled AJ Harlamert after 49 pitches, which will allow him to pitch Saturday. Aaron Kaup came on with two outs in the second inning, quickly got a strikeout to end the inning and went on to pitch three innings of one-hit, one-walk baseball with three strikeouts.
The Wildcats avoided the shutout in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ian Homan walked to lead off the inning, and after a fly out and a stolen base, Brandon Lickteig broke up the no-hitter with a single to left to put runners on the corners. Adam Rindler lofted a fly to right that was deep enough to allow Homan to score to make it 13-1 before Kaup got a forceout at second to end the inning.
In the fifth, Kaup didn't give the Wildcats a chance to get enough runs to extend the game, getting three quick outs to close the door.
The Harlamert twins dominated at the plate, combining to go 6-for-6 with six runs scored and five RBI.
"The twins have been the table setters for the last three years," said Brunswick. "They're very good ballplayers. "It's a joy to have them at the top of the order."
