Indians score four in fifth to beat Panthers

FORT RECOVERY - The way Jackson Hobbs and Wyatt Felver were pitching Tuesday, just one little hiccup could have decided the winner of the Parkway-Fort Recovery baseball game.

For Parkway, that hiccup came in the bottom of the fifth as the Indians, the top-ranked team in Division IV, scored all four of their runs. That allowed Hobbs to finish a 4-0 one-hit gem in Midwest Athletic Conference play at the Fort.

The Fort Recovery junior retired the first 14 batters he faced before Brody Adams singled with two outs in the fifth. Hobbs walked Bailey Rodriguez in the sixth and Felver reached on an error in the seventh. All three Panther baserunners were stranded on first.

"He was overpowering and our defense made some plays when we needed to," Indians coach Jerry Kaup said. "Really, just a great MAC game.

"(Hobbs) knew he was going to get this start for a couple days and was looking forward to it. (Parkway) is an excellent ballclub we faced tonight. He battled at a high level."

"(Hobbs) did a good job mixing it up and keeping up off-balanced" Parkway coach Luke Clouse said.

"He was able to throw the curve ball for a strike. When you're able to throw it for a strike, that keeps it in the back of the mind of our guys, (and then he) sneaks a fastball in there. When we do get ahold of it, it was right to them."

Felver was sharp as well in keeping the Indians off the board for most of the game. Two big double plays, one in the second with a runner on third and another in the fourth helped the Panthers.

"We played great defense behind (Felver) and turned a couple of double plays," Clouse said.

"We knew Wyatt would be an excellent pitcher," Kaup said.

Fort Recovery's big inning came in the bottom of the fifth. Nate Lochtefeld led off with a double and scored on Ben Will's single to left. Chase Bruns moved Will to third with a single and then stole second to put two on. Mitch Stammen followed with a grounder. The throw home to get Will was late, leaving all hands safe. Cole Wendel followed with a grounder to first. Adams threw to Brandon Gibson at home plate, who made the catch but had the ball pop out trying to put the tag on Bruns. Stammen saw the ball bounce away and dashed home to make it 4-0.

"We got a couple breaks," Kaup said. "We were able to get the ball into play and use some of our speed and get a couple of bases. It worked out. They were close plays."

"Brody makes a great throw to the plate and Gibby (catches the ball with) two hands like we teach him to and it ends up popping out. That's part of the game," Clouse said. "What you don't expect is (Stammen) made a great play, never stopping."

Hobbs closed things out in the sixth with two straight strikeouts. After Felver reached on an error in the seventh, Hobbs forced three consecutive fly outs to end the game.

Schroer and Lochtefeld each had two hits for the Indians.

Fort Recovery (14-0, 3-0 MAC), hosts Versailles on Thursday in MAC action. Parkway (10-3, 2-1 MAC) hosts Bath on Thursday and then faces another top-ranked team in Division III poll leader Coldwater at Don Black Field on Friday.