A good way to start the season

CELINA - The first game of John Dorner's tenure as Celina baseball coach ended up like 544 of the 797 games he coached while at St. Henry - with his team putting a mark on the good side of the ledger.

Quinn Andrew pitched five innings of no-hit baseball and the Bulldogs took advantage of the limited hits allowed by Fort Recovery in picking up a 3-0 victory in the season lidlifter for both teams at a chilly Montgomery Field in Celina on Monday.

Both teams brought solid pitching to the mound, with Celina collecting just two hits and Fort Recovery managing one - a seventh-inning leadoff single by Cale Rammel off reliever Ethan Bryant.

"We played pretty well for the first game of the season. We didn't hit the ball very well," said Dorner. "But it was a cold day and as long as (pitchers) throw strikes, they're tough to hit. Both teams struggled a bit at the plate. But they made a couple of mistakes and we took advantage of those and had some aggressive baserunning. We did the things we needed to do."

Andrew scattered two walks and struck out four over five innings on just 65 pitches. The chilly weather - with temperatures in the mid-30s at first pitch - had Dorner pulling him, which would allow him to come back to pitch later in the week.

"Quinn pitched exceptional (baseball)," said Dorner. "He was in complete control, but it was too cold and too early in the season to let him continue."

"We put balls in play, just not hard shots," said first-year Fort Recovery coach Kevin Eyink. "We had two hard hit balls: one to left, one to center. The rest were little grounders in the infield."

Jack Ervin started off strong for Fort Recovery, striking out four over the first two innings and getting the first two outs in the third when Celina scored the go-ahead run. Andrew worked the count full and drew a walk, then stole second. Then he stole third with the throw ending up in left field, allowing him to trot home for the first run.

Celina got its first hit of the season in the fourth on a Dylan Feister single. Zander Jones bunted Feister to second and Ervin balked Feister to third. Carter Altstaetter followed with a two-out single to left to make it 2-0.

Ervin pitched well for Fort Recovery, walking one and striking out four.

Troy Homan came on in relief of Ervin in the fifth and allowed a walk to Blayn Aller. Zach Greber bunted Aller to second with Homan called for a balk to move him to third, where Andrew lofted a deep enough fly to center to score the final run of the game.

Bryant came on to pitched the sixth for Celina and allowed just one baserunner on an error. In the seventh, Rammel singled to center to break up the no-hitter and Bo Thien followed with a walk. Dorner wasted no time in calling on Feister to come over from third base to close the door.

Feister struck out Kendrick Wendel for the first out, but was called for a balk to move the runners up a base with Marcus Gaerke at the plate. Gaerke lofted the hardest-hit shot of the night, but it was right to Jones in center with neither runner able to advance.

Feister closed the door by getting Alex Dues to look at strike three for the final out.

"Dylan did what Dylan does," said Dorner. "We leave with a hard-fought victory. It was a nice team for the team."

"I'm happy with both our pitchers. They pitched well," said Eyink. "(Celina) did some little things - bunts, steals - and we threw the ball away a couple times. That was the difference."

Celina is back at it today as its annual opening week series with Grand Lake area teams continues with Marion Local coming to Montgomery Field. Fort Recovery is off until Friday, when the Indians travel to Mississinawa Valley.