Fort Jennings’ Calvin Menke fields an infield fly against Ottoville during Wednesday’s game at Ottoville.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
OTTOVILLE – It’s early in the baseball season and teams are trying to find their identities.
In Wednesday’s non-league matchup between Fort Jennings and Ottoville, Fort Jennings displayed some of the traits it already possesses as it pulled away from Ottoville for a convincing 16-5 run-rule victory in the sixth inning at Ottoville.
If a team leads by at least 10 runs through five innings the game is over before the normal seven innings are played.
Offensively, Fort Jennings pounded eight base hits and capitalized on the base paths. Defensively, the Musketeers’ pitching staff scattered just six hits and forced Ottoville to strand 12 baserunners.
Fort Jennings and Ottoville both compete in the Putnam County League. However, Wednesday’s matchup was a non-league affair. The two teams will face off later in the season in a PCL matchup.
With Wednesday’s win, Fort Jennings improved to 2-1 overall and is 0-1 in the PCL. Ottoville slipped to 0-2 overall and 0-0 in PCL action.
Evan Ellerbrock led Fort Jennings at the plate on Wednesday, going 2 for 4 with four RBI.
With bases loaded in the fourth inning, Ellerbock smacked a bases-clearing double to help lead the Musketeers to a huge six-run inning.
“Evan Ellerbrock hit the ball. … He terrorized the ball today. But really what the story was – our running on the base paths,” Fort Jennings coach Matt Dube said. “Owen Calvelage (2 for 2) had six or seven steals. We were very active on the base paths, but that wasn’t with signs, necessarily. Our guys were getting reads on the pitcher and took extra bases when we needed to and put the pressure on them (Ottoville). That’s what we’re built upon. We have deep pitching. Our offense has to be there, and we have to be aggressive on the base paths.”
Carson Gilchriest got the starting nod on the pitching mound for Fort Jennings. Gilchriest worked four innings before being replaced by Sam Dube, who closed out the game. Gilchriest scattered five hits, struck out four and walked six. He threw 79 pitches.
Keaton Schnipke started on the mound for Ottoville. Schnipke pitched 3 1/3 innings before being lifted. Schnipke was tabbed for eight runs on five hits. He stuck out two, walked five and hit a batter. Schnipke tossed 66 pitches.
Ottoville utilized three other pitchers on Wednesday. Evan Altenburger worked an inning plus. Cruse Schroeder pitched an inning. Damian Lawhorn closed out the game for the Big Green.
“I just got done telling our guys that Monday was the first time that we’ve had all 15 of our guys (together) this season,” Ottoville coach Ty Wannemacher said. “So we have some things to clean up. We are seeing some good things from some of the younger kids, too. They’re coming in, they’re getting hits, they’re pitching decent, and are making some defensive plays. We’re seeing some good things, but we don’t have everybody ready yet. We’ll get there as the season goes on, but we’re taking our lumps right now.”
Fort Jennings jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first inning and never trailed.
In the fourth, the Musketeers scored six runs on three hits, including the huge double by Ellerbrock that plated three runs. At the end of four, Fort Jennings led 10-4.
In the top of the fifth, Fort Jennings extended its lead to 14-4. Ottoville added a run in the home half of the fifth to make it 14-5. In the sixth, Fort Jennings put the game away when it tallied two more runs.
For Ottoville, Jace Langhals went 2 for 3 at plate. Landon Horstman went 2 for 2 and had two walks for the Big Green.
Fort Jennings committed three errors, while Ottoville had six miscues in the field.
“When you pit Fort Jennings against Ottoville, it doesn’t matter what the records are,” Dube said. “You throw it (the records) out the window when it’s the Big Green and the Musketeers. There’s something on the line. We had to play today, and their guys came to play. It was a good game (for a while), then our bats came alive.”
Box score (r-h-e)
Fort Jennings 3 1 0 6 4 2 X – 16 8 3
Ottoville 1 0 3 0 1 0 X – 5 6 6
WP – Carson Gilchriest (FJ)
LP – Keaton Schnipke (OTT)
2B – Fort Jennings: Owen Calvelage 1, Jarron Swick 1, Evan Ellerbrock 1
Records: Fort Jennings – 2-1, 0-1 PCL; Ottoville – 0-2, 0-0 PCL
