Grinding out a victory

FORT RECOVERY - Fort Recovery had no signs of panic during the middle of the seventh inning after Coldwater had tied the game at 3-all in the top of the inning.

The Indians just simply went to work to prevent extra innings.

Cade Wendel singled down the right field line with no outs in the bottom of the seventh to score Ethan Schoen as the Indians beat the Cavaliers 4-3 in a battle of state-ranked MAC baseball co-leaders.

The game was key as the win should give the seventh-ranked Indians (15-4, 6-1 MAC) the nod over the third-ranked Cavaliers (12-3, 5-2 MAC) in seeding at this weekend's Division III tournament draw.

"We told them 'You keep playing.' " said Fort Recovery coach Jerry Kaup. "Good, bad or ugly, you keep playing. That's what they did."

Schoen drew a walk off Coldwater's Cole Frilling to start the seventh. Riley Post laid down a bunt to move the runner, but Frilling threw to second for the force. The catch was dropped, leaving all hands safe for Wendel. who tried to bunt on his first two attempts but was called for strikes. Forced to swing away, Wendel took a ball before blasting a fair shot down the right field line. Schoen easily sprinted home to a group of happy Indians.

"I was thinking to just put the ball in play after missing those two bunts," Wendel said. "Either to drive in that run or to move the runners. … I scooted up in the box and shortened my stride."

"Unfortunately, we didn't play clean baseball and they did," Coldwater coach Brian Harlamert said. "We kept battling, though."

The game was expected to be a pitchers' duel and certainly proved to be the case. Fort Recovery ace and Kent State-bound Nick Thwaits scattered four hits and two runs over six innings with six strikeouts as the Indians scored early to allow him to leave to start the seventh leading 3-2.

Frilling settled down after having allowed early runs. He struck out eight and scattered four hits. Miscues made all but one of the Indians' runs unearned.

"Cole's lost two games the last two times out (against St. Henry last week and Thursday's loss) in the last inning of the game," Harlamert said. "He threw well against St. Henry and beat two pretty good pitchers (stat-wise) and got the loss."

After the Cavaliers had scored in the first when Nathan Grunden singled home Austin Riethman, Fort Recovery scored two in the bottom of the second. Reese Rogers led off with a walk. After Kody Shinabery bunted the runner to second, Frilling forced out Joe Homan before walking Schoen. Post swung at a strike three that bounced in the dirt. The attempt to throw to first was wild and went out of play, allowing Rogers and Schoen to score to make the score 2-1.

The Indians added a run in the third. Will Homan led off with a walk and Thwaits followed with a single to put runners at first and third. One out later, Rogers grounded to Frilling, who threw to first for the out as Will Homan dashed home.

The Cavaliers had a chance to get back a run in the fifth with one out and runners at first and third. Sam Broering lined a high shot down the third base line, but Post stretched and caught the ball while standing on the base, forcing out Payton Goodwin for the double play.

Coldwater got to within a run at 3-2 in the sixth when Grunden tripled to center with one out. Jack Muhlenkamp grounded out as Grunden came home. The Cavaliers had a chance to possibly tie the game, but Jacob Hartings was called for interference which ended the inningwhen Shinabery was blocked trying to throw to third in an effort to get a stealing Mitch Niekamp.

"We got some breaks," Kaup said. "The line drive to third (for the) double play. … Then the interference call was beneficial to us."

Thwaits, who threw 86 pitches, gave way to breaking-ball pitcher Rogers in the seventh to give the Cavaliers a different look from the fastballs Thwaits fired. After having gotten the first out, Riethman drew a walk. Sam Broering followed by flying out to left for the second out before Jacob Wenning singled. With Grunden at the plate, Rogers uncorked a wild pitch to score Riethman for the tying run. Grunden lined out to second to end the threat.

"Reese likes to be a starter and gets into his groove after 30 pitches," Kaup said. "It's hard to make the decision to bring him in for relief. But if we can get him to throw enough in the bullpen, we thought we had the pitch that could be effective against (Coldwater). He's thrown really well for us, but not so much in a relief role. We thought that gave us the best shot."

"It's a tough loss for our guys," Harlamert said. "We played pretty well on the road. We'll keep working and keep fighting."

Grunden had two of the five Cavalier hits while Wendel had half of Fort Recovery's base hits on the day.

Fort Recovery is off until Tuesday when the Indians travel to Minster. Coldwater is back in action today at Kalida.