Celina gets even

FORT RECOVERY - The Fort Recovery ACME team's lone win this season came on June 13, when they defeated Celina 9-3 at Montgomery Field.

The Bulldogs leveled the season series with the Indians on Monday, though.

Ethan Piper, who had taken the loss in the first meeting with the Indians, threw five strong innings, and the Celina offense supplied him with plenty of run support in a 10-6 victory in Fort Recovery.   

"We hit the ball really well," Celina coach Jimmy Luebke said. "We put the ball in play and made them make plays, but they didn't. It worked for us. We scored some runs. We scored a lot of runs in the top of the seventh to give us a cushion. The defense was good. They played zero-error baseball until the seventh."

Celina collected seven hits and broke open a close game with four runs in the seventh. Fort Recovery's defense also committed seven errors.

Fort Recovery had an early lead after having scored two runs in the bottom of the first. Drew Muhlenkamp produced the first run with an RBI single that scored Ryne Post after he had singled and stole second. Muhlenkamp then went to third on a single by Joe Homan and later scored on a passed ball.

After having left the bags full in the first, Celina plated an unearned run in the second. Dalton Leiss reached base on an error, a wild pitch put him on second, a ground-ball out by Nash Weimert sent him to third and a wild pitch allowed him to score.

Celina took the lead for good in the third. Austin Cotterman hit a lead-off single and advanced to second on a passed ball. Grant Wagner then laid down a bunt single. The late throw to first went wild, allowing Cotterman to tie the score. Piper made it 3-2 with an RBI single.

The Indians left the bases loaded in the third. Then the Bulldogs added to their lead in the fourth as Weimert came home on an error after having begun the inning with a single.

Fort Recovery cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth. Cole Grisez reached base on a fielder's choice and positioned himself at third thanks to a wild pitch and a stolen base. Owen Schoen drew a walk and then stole second. Grisez trotted home when the ball sailed over the Celina shortstop's head on Schoen's stolen base attempt.

But three walks by Indian pitching loaded the bases in the sixth, and Piper's double-play ball, RBI made it 5-3. A wild pitch later allowed Cotterman to score.

Zach Hirsch had a pinch-hit RBI single for Celina in the seventh and Caden Highley hit a run-scoring double. Hirsch then scored on a passed ball and Highley also did on an error.

"The defense feeds the offense and I really pitch pitching first and foremost," Fort Recovery coach Jacob Homan said. "If we've got a good pitcher out there, then the defense needs to follow suit and they need to make plays for their pitcher. If that doesn't happen, then we have games like tonight. We battled really hard at the beginning and then we had that one inning when we couldn't seem to make a play. We missed a flyball. Then we missed a line drive to the third baseman. Those are game-changers."

The Indians had two hits and also benefitted from two walks and one error to plate three in the seventh. The big hit was off the bat of Dillon Evers, a two-run single. But Celina's reliever, Weimert, buckled down for the final outs.

"We finally got around to hitting the ball," Jacob Homan said. "(Weimert) walked a few hitters and it seemed like the umpire's strike zone tightened up a little bit. We had some lucky plays, but that's baseball. We can't come out here and strikeout. If you put the ball in play, then you don't know what's going to happen. That last inning, we got away with some lucky hits and we put a few runs across the board to make it a four-point game. That's some momentum to take into Wednesday's game with Parkway."

Piper allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out nine and walking three in five innings of work. He also had two hits and two RBIs.

"He was a little shook up or uncomfortable after (catcher Kyle Stein went out with an injury), which is understandable," Luebke said of Piper. "But I feel like he settled down and figured things out. He was good. He pitched strikes."

Joe Homan had two hits for the Indians. Riley Will pitched four innings, striking out four and walking two. Only one of the four runs he allowed was earned.

Both teams are back in action on Wednesday. Celina (5-4 Mercer County) travels to face Van Wert and Fort Recovery faces Parkway in a resumption of last Wednesday's game that was rained out. The Indians (1-6 County) and Panthers will finish the rain-shortened game at 6 p.m. and then follow with a full game.