BLUFFTON – Fort Jennings jumped out to an early lead and held on Wednesday evening as they downed host Bluffton 7-4 in a non-league affair.
In their opening at bat the black and orange led off with opening hitter Owen Calvelage slapping a soft liner into left and quickly finding himself rounding the bases headed for home after a stolen base and a double by Carson Gilchriest to give the Musketeers a 1-0 advantage.
Fort Jennings continued to add to their total in the inning thanks to Pirate errors, an RBI double by Jon Grote, a sacrifice fly by Jake Wiechart, and a single by Adam Hoersten as the final part of a 10 batter inning where five runners came home to score.
Starting pitcher Jon Grote procured a pair of strikeouts after allowing an opening inning walk to Braeden Jordan and finished with a 1-2-3 frame as Jordan was erased by catcher Gilchriest trying to steal third.
Through their first four at bats the Musketeers threatened to run away with the ballgame as they amassed eight hits and seven runs against starter Daniel Fredritz and reliever Jaden Coonfare. Unfortunately for the visitors however their success of six runs against Fredritz wouldn’t last against Coonfare who entered in the third and allowed just a run and three hits in his five innings on the mound.
Bluffton chased Grote in the fifth with one out and with the bases loaded moments after a walk to Quinn Eachus allowed the first run of the game. Fort Jennings coach Matt Dube sent out reliever Owen Calvelage who began the game as the designated hitter to take over for Grote.
Calvelage allowed two runners to score in the frame before recording the final out on a pop-up to cut the deficit for Bluffton to 7-3 heading to the top of the sixth.
Offensively the Musketeers picked up just a single and a walk in the final two innings but held on to their lead throughout as the duo of Calvelage and Gavin Schimmoeller combined to surrender just one additional run and in the case of Schimmoeller, sit the Pirates down in order in the bottom of the seventh to close out the 7-4 victory.
Jon Grote (1-0) earned his first career victory on the mound by allowing just three runs and two hits in 4.1 innings while striking out five and walking four on 75 pitches. Gavin Schimmoeller earned his first save of the season by virtue of tossing 14 pitches and sitting down the Pirates middle of the order in the seventh.
Daniel Fredritz (1-1) suffered the loss for Bluffton as his two innings on the mound and 53 pitches saw him give up six runs on six hits while walking two, striking out one and hitting one batter.
Carson Gilchriest led the way for Fort Jennings with three hits on the day and was joined by Jon Grote, Owen Calvelage, and Eli Brown who each tossed in a pair of hits as part of a 13 hit barrage.
Fort Jennings improves to 3-4 on the season and will be in action on Thursday night at home against Elida while the Pirates (2-7) fall to 0-5 this season at home will hit the road to take on Leipsic before Crestview visits Bluffton on Friday evening.
“The guys had to battle, Bluffton shut us down after the second inning and really scrapped to get back in the game. I liked the way we worked through our mistakes to hang on in the end. A win doesn’t have to be pretty to count” said Fort Jennings head coach Matt Dube.