Cavs, Indians advance to title game

ELIDA - Coldwater versus Van Buren in Game 1. Fort Recovery versus Ottawa-Glandorf in Game 2.

The Midwest Athletic Conference, Western Buckeye League and Blanchard Valley Conference were all represented on Thursday at the Division III Elida district baseball semifinals at Ed Sandy Field.

The teams from the MAC were left standing.

Coldwater lit up Van Buren's top two pitchers en route to a 10-2 victory and a trip to the title game for a third straight year.

Fort Recovery pitcher Cade Wendel kept Ottawa-Glandorf scoreless and allowed just three hits over six innings and Reese Rogers' squeeze bunt in the sixth gave the Indians the only run they needed to edge the Titans 1-0.

It sets up a district title showdown between the top-seeded Cavaliers and second-seeded Indians on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Elida. Fort Recovery defeated Coldwater 4-3 during the regular season on its way to claiming a share of the MAC baseball crown for the first time in program history.
Coldwater 10, Van Buren 2

Van Buren pitcher Jordan Tabler entered the game with an unblemished 7-0 record, having allowed only 13 runs on the year.

Those stats, however, meant nothing to Coldwater.

The Cavs jumped on Tabler for five runs in the first inning (four earned) and continued to add on as they ran away with the victory against a Black Knight team that had boasted an 18-5 record and won the BVC.

Tabler walked Austin Riethman to start the game, allowed a hit to Sam Broering and then issued another walk to Nathan Grunden. Jack Muhlenkamp's ground ball to firsts base was misplayed, making it 1-0. Cole Frilling's triple over the head of the right fielder plated three runs and Seth Miller's RBI single capped the scoring.

Riethman connected on a one-out double in the second and went to third on a delayed steal. He scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Broering.

Tabler was done after two innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on six hits with no strikeouts and one walk.

"Stats are deceiving," Harlamert said "Records are deceiving. It depends on who you play sometimes. I think our record stands for itself. He was a decent pitcher, but our guys have a process of believing and we followed through."

Relief pitcher Angel Garcia held Coldwater at bay for the next three innings. But the Cavs chased the Findlay-commit Garcia from the game in the sixth as Nate Grunden hit a three-run triple and Muhlenkamp added an RBI two-bagger.

Coldwater starter Brad Giere allowed three hits in a complete-game effort against a lineup that came in hitting .364 collectively. He struck out one, walked three and hit two batters, with 48 of his 81 pitches going for strikes.

The lone runs allowed by Giere came on a single by Hunter Fleck in the fourth after the Coldwater pitcher had issued two free passes to start the inning.

"We won a state title in '14 with two guys throwing 80 miles per hour," Harlamert said. "The bottom line is you've got to throw strikes inside, outside, up and down. That's what Brad Giere does. Look at his record. That was his sixth win and he's got four saves. The kid has done a great job as a senior. I think our pitching and our defense has been strong. I think (shortstop) Sam Broering tonight probably made six putouts. The kid's got three errors on 100 and some chances this year. That's great defense. Defense and pitching wins games. That's what we do."

Riethman had two hits and scored three runs. Wenning and Grunden added two hits. Grunden and Frilling led the team with three RBIs apiece.
Fort Recovery 1, Ottawa-Glandorf 0

Wendel and Fort Recovery buckled down to deny Ottawa-Glandorf its best scoring chance in the sixth.

And the Indians could not be denied when it was their turn at the plate.

Rogers squeeze bunted for a single to bring home Riley Post for the winning run, and Nick Thwaits came on to pitch a 1-2-3 seventh for the save.

"Cade Wendel came in and gave us another tremendous effort," Fort Recovery coach Jerry Kaup said. "He got through the first inning, found his groove and pitched wonderfully. He was getting fatigued there towards the end. … We just really wanted to scratch, claw, steal, beg, something, for a run in the sixth inning. And Nick wanted to close it out. It worked this time."

Wendel threw 64 of his 85 pitches for strikes, finishing with eight strikeouts. Thwaits, who will have the ball in his hand on Saturday against Coldwater, struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.

Wendel allowed two base runners through four innings. He gave up just one single during that time with Mike Bowers collecting it in the first. Bowers was stranded at second as Wendel forced a ground-out and struck out a batter to end the threat. Wendel hit Austin Horstman with a breaking ball in the fourth. Horstman was cut down before reaching second as Joe Homan snatched Chase Schrieber's hard-hit ball off of Wendel's glove, stepped on second and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

Wendel's counterpart, Schrieber, was rolling through four innings too. The O-G pitcher tallied five strikeouts, walked none and gave up two hits. Wendel was stranded on second after having gotten a hit in the first and Joe Homan was kept at first after having singled in the second.

The Titans' Evan Balash hit a leadoff double in the sixth and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Wendel recorded his eighth strikeout and then forced an inning-ending flyout to center fielder Will Homan.

"To get out of that jam, I was just trying to place my curveball so it'd be hard for them to hit and if they would, it'd be them hitting it into the ground," Wendel said. "I had two open bases and I couldn't let them hit the ball hard anywhere."

Riley Post hit a line-drive single to right in the home sixth. Wendel followed with a bunt down the third baseline that Bowers let go, thinking it was headed foul. Will Homan followed with a two-strike bunt to advance the runners into scoring position.

"There was hesitation to bunt with two strikes," Kaup admitted. "But we thought the risk was worth the possible reward. Will can bunt. He just hadn't gotten the first couple down."

An intentional walk to Thwaits loaded the bases and Rogers followed with a hard bunt that rolled by Schrieber to score Post.

"Reese is a good bunter also," Kaup said. "He just bunted a little harder and it worked out in our favor. It's bases loaded. We wanted to get it out there a little further."

"About once or twice a week, we have a bunt scrimmage where we just get a pitching machine and we play a bunt game that's really competitive," said Wendel, the lone player with multiple hits in the game. "That's kind of how we played it. Coach called time. We all went down to third and he said 'Bunt scrimmage right here. Let's just have fun and get this run in.' That's what we did.

"That gives you relief because both teams were playing really good," Wendel added. "To plate that run and then knowing that Nick is coming in for the last inning, that gives you a lot of confidence."