FORT JENNINGS – Pitchers Bryce Gasser and Eli Brown left their marks not only on the Fort Jennings record books but also on the dirt of Fort Jennings Park in the last game played there as they combined for the schools second ever perfect game in a 10-0 win over Continental.
Opening their final home tournament game before heading to a new facility next season the Musketeers turned to right hander Bryce Gasser and watched as he went perfect through the first nine hitters and collected half a dozen strikeouts.
“Bryce was on his game right from the first pitch and looked great!” exclaimed Fort Jennings coach Matt Dube. “He was definitely dealing.”
Asked about closing the programs tenure at the city owned park with this outing Dube responded “If this is the last high school game at the park I can’t think of a better way to close it out”.
In their at bat in the bottom of the third the Musketeers utilized a hit by pitch and a pair of stolen bases from Sam Dube to score their first run of the game when ground ball to center field by Brandt Menke pushed across the first run.
Fort Jennings continued to add to their tally in the frame when Menke scored on a wild pitch and a ground out by Owen Calvelage brought home teammate Calvin Menke to give the hosts a 3-0 advantage.
Gasser continued his mastery over the Continental bats in his final inning in the top of the fourth as he induced a strikeout and a pair of pop outs to keep his slate clean.
Providing the fireworks for the orange and black fans in attendance the offense went to work in the fourth as they kicked across seven runs to take a 10-0 lead.
Runs from walks and errors punctuated the at bat for the Musketeers as the inning also saw multiple passed balls and stolen bases to advance or score runners until the final conclusion which saw Jarron Swick caught attempting to steal home for the final out.
Working in his second game in the past week it was up to reliever Eli Brown to shut down the final at bat of the visitors and procure the Musketeer victory.
Tossing just nine pitches Brown induced three straight ground balls from Pirate hitters and relied on his infield to produce the final three outs.
“Eli Brown came in to close it out and we were able to maintain Bryce’s availability for Thursday. It was the ultimate individual sacrifice by a kid who has been the man for this team all season” said Dube.
Continental’s season comes to an end at 2-19 and sees Newsome tagged with the loss. Newsome surrendered seven hits and 10 runs on three walks and five strikeouts with three hit by pitches on the evening.
Fort Jennings improves to 9-12 and will next travel to Middle Point on Thursday for a 5pm sectional finals matchup against defending D4 State Runner-Up Lincolnview.
Gasser (4-2) and Brown combined to strike out seven while allowing no hits and surrendering no walks on 51 pitches for just the second perfect game in school history, joining Ken VonLehmden who blanked Miller City in a 14-0 victory on May 2nd, 1968. VonLehmden’s perfect game was his second no hitter in a week as he notched his first on April 25th, also against Miller City.
Nine previous no-hitters have been thrown by Fort Jennings with the last coming in 2021 when Evan Hoersten no-hit rival Columbus Grove in a 6-0 victory.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continental | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | X | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Fort Jennings | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | X | X | X | 10 | 7 | 0 |
FJ Batting:
Owen Calvelage 1/3 (2RBI)
Calvin Menke 0/2 (1RBI)
Bryce Gasser 2/3 (1RBI)
Jarron Swick 2/3
Adam Luersman 1/2 (1RBI)
Brandt Menke 1/2 (1RBI(
ABOVE: Catcher Carson Gilchriest with pitchers Bryce Gasser (middle), and Eli Brown (right).