Loramie’ pitcher Gabe Hart threw strikes and made Covington put the ball in play. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Lee Woolery)
Gabe Hart allowed 1 run in seven innings against Covington, allowing for a mediocre day of batting. The Redskins gained a huge advantage on the basepaths, making Covington pay for even the slightest of mistakes.
By Alan Brads for Press Pros
Ft. Loramie – In just a year of covering the Shelby County League, I’ve learned a universal truth about Fort Loramie athletics. If you give any of their teams an inch, they’ll take a mile, and they won’t give it back.
Alan Brads writes OHSSA sports and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
The Redskins’ baseball team proved that again, as they pounced on every Covington mistake, no matter how minuscule, and rode Gabe Hart’s pitching to a 5-1 district semifinal victory.
The Buccaneers truly put up an impressive fight against the state-ranked Redskins, but a three-run third fourth inning proved too much to overcome.
“Nowhere in our playbook was Covington gonna come over and lay down for us,” Loramie Coach Jeff Sanders said. “We knew they were gonna come prepared and ready to play, and that they’d play their hearts out, and they did.”
They didn’t play a mistake-riddled game, But it only took a few.
“We made a few fundamental mistakes and baseball IQ errors,” Covington Coach Andy Johnson said. “We knew what Fort Loramie was capable of, but we thought we had a good game plan to keep them in check. But we just let a couple things slip and they took advantage like a good team does.”
Maverick Grudich had two hits, a walk and an RBI in four plate appearances.
Covington’s starting pitcher, Tyler Jay, had two scoreless innings under his belt and the ninth hitter, Will Hoying, pinned in a two-strike count but hit him with a pitch. Maverick Grudich took ball four next, and Roger Hoying cracked one to right field to drive in the first run of the ball game.
After the Buccs scored a tying run in the top of the fourth, Jay walked the leadoff batter, Brandewie, who would eventually steal home on a wild pitch. Covington never matched that go-ahead run.
Four out of five Redskins that crossed the plate gained at least one base via a Buccaneer miscue.
Much like the Lady Redskins when given space to shoot a three, or the volleyball team when allowed to grab an early lead, the bat-wielding Redskins let no mistake go unpunished.
Was it the most electric offensive performance? No. They struggled at times to sit back on pitches, having grown accustomed to the likes of Braylon Cordonnier and other fireball throwers of the SCAL.
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“We just had to sit back and think about hitting to right field,” Grudich said. “That’s tough to do. Everybody wants to be hitting big. Especially with the high adrenaline of the tournament, you want to be aggressive. When you see a runner at third base you just want to smack a ball to the fence, but you gotta calm yourself down and think right field.”
Grudich’s calm mentality bought him two hits, a walk, and an RBI in four plate appearances.
But all nine bats don’t have to be electric when you’ve got pitchers and defense in spades.
Loramie advanced with a 5-1 win over TRC participant Covington.
FBuccs catcher looks for aHart struck out three of the first four batters he faced, mostly by blowing fastballs right by them.
In the batters’ box the Buccs failed to do what Loramie did so well: exploit seemingly microscopic mistakes. Hart’s curveball took about three innings to settle in, and they did no damage in that period.
“It seemed like we got guys on base every time, we just couldn’t get that big hit to knock them all in,” Covington Coach Andy Johnson said.
After blanking the Buccaneers for three innings, trouble brewed for Hart in the fourth. He hit the leadoff hitter with a pitch, but his trusty sidekick, Hoying, bailed him out with a missile to second base to catch the runner stealing. First baseman Jacob Tipps and OF Ashton Skaggs got aboard next with consecutive singles. OF Connor Humphrey drove the tying run in with a rocket down the first base line that likely would’ve scored two had it not bounced into the first base umpire. Still, it put the go-ahead and insurance runs in scoring position, But Grudich put away a routine grounder from shortstop to escape the jam.
“I couldn’t find my curveball at the beginning,” Hart said. “It usually takes me two or three innings for some reason. But once I found it, I hurt them with it.”
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After that scare Loramie finally broke through on offense, getting baserunners with a cacophony of hits and HBPs, and stealing on a multitude of passed balls and wild pitches. They scored three in the fourth, and Covington never looked especially threatening after that.
Once Loramie has a lead and is painting the corners with the breaking ball, it might not even be worth the effort to flip your cap inside out. The comeback ain’t happening.
Covington’s shortstop comes up throwing to record an out at first base.
Hart struck out seven, allowed six hits, and notched another win.
“He threw strikes, and he stayed out of trouble with walks and hit by pitch,” Sanders said. “When you play clean like that it gives you a shot.”
He looked like he felt great doing it … but as it turns out he didn’t.
“I’ve been feeling sick almost all day,” Hart said. “I’ve got pink eye in both my eyes, I got allergies going and have a sore throat.”
Hart didn’t play the part of a sick man convincingly while on the mound. From the bleachers it looked like the sickest thing about him was the nasty break on his breaking ball the last few innings.
Meanwhile, Jay recorded the loss, along with eight hits, two walks, two HBPs, and a pair of strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched in the final episode of Covington’s 10-14 campaign.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Covington Coach Andy Johnson said of the Buccaneers’ first 10-win season since 2016, and first sectional title in a decade.
“These kids came into the season with high expectations for themselves, and they delivered.
Fort Loramie advances to the district finals to face off Troy Christian, once again as the heavy favorites. So Eagles, be warned: don’t give an inch. That’s all Loramie needs.
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