GLANDORF — The beginning was the end.
Ottawa-Glandorf scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning on its way to an 11-1, five-inning run-rule win over Elida in its Western Buckeye League season opener on Tuesday.
The Titans sent 11 hitters to the plate in their big inning and Elida never recovered from that offensive explosion.
It wasn’t all about offense for O-G, though. Pitcher Chase Schrieber limited Elida to two hits, the Titans stole six bases and defensively they had only one error.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s lead-off hitter, Owen Heigel, reached base all four times he went to the plate with three singles and by getting on by an error. Grant Fuerst was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and Evan Balash was on base all three times he batted, on two walks and a single, and scored three runs.
“It was pretty much 1-2-3 in the first inning (by Schrieber) and then we put up a big number early and that kind of set the tone for us,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Nick Miller said.
“Today was the first day we came out and hit the ball very well,” Miller said. “Coming in we had a .188 team batting average. But hitting is contagious sometimes and once somebody gets rolling, a couple other guys get going, too.
“Early in the year, especially in Ohio weather, it’s tough. Hopefully, this is a good building game for us that we can continue to improve upon,” he said. “We were able to do a lot of things to put pressure on them – steal a lot of bases, bunt to move some guys over and we finally got some key hits today to drive people in.”
Schrieber’s two-run double in the first inning started the scoring for Ottawa-Glandorf. Fuerst followed that with another run-scoring double and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 after the first five O-G hitters had gone to the plate.
Balash had a two-run single and Heigel hit a run-scoring single on his second plate appearance of the inning to make it 7-0.
The Titans scored again in the third inning when Balash walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Heigel.
Elida’s only run came in the fourth inning without a hit when Noah Adcock reached base on an error, moved up on a walk to Owen Anderson, went to third on a balk and scored on a ground out by Jordan Davis.
Ottawa-Glandorf finished the game early with three runs in the fifth inning. Michael Bowers brought one run home on a ground out, Heigel scored on a delayed steal and Fuerst singled in the final run.
Ottawa-Glandorf is 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the WBL. Elida is 1-2 and 0-1 in the WBL.
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