GALION — Galion avenged Tuesday’s loss to Clear Fork with a 2-1 win over the Colts on Wednesday evening at Heise Park. Clear Fork knocked off Galion 6-2 on Tuesday in Bellville.
“It shows character on our guys, a good team we’re trying to develop mentally as a high school unit. A bounce back after a loss, our guys responded really well and played a pretty solid game,” said Tigers skipper Neil Schaffner, whose club improved to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in Mid Ohio Athletic Conference play.
A pitching duel was on display for the first few innings Wednesday evening between Galion and Clear Fork until Wilson Frankhouse hustled down the line for an infield single to open the bottom of the fourth and give his team a base runner. Frankhouse stole second base and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Hudson Miller recorded an RBI groundout to score the first run of the game.
Clear Fork (4-5, 2-2 MOAC) quickly answered in the top of the fifth when Ben Blubaugh hit a difficult ball to second that was mishandled and allowed Aaron Brown to score. The Tigers got out of it with a nice double-play lineout back to first base.
Troy Manring hustled out an infield single in the sixth for the Tigers and moved to third on a Frankhouse single. Matthew McMullen drove in a run through the left side to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead over the Colts, which ended up being the winning run.
Wilson Frankhouse lead the way offensively for the Tigers going 2-for-3.
“That’s two of our faster guys. It was good timing when they were up. When you have a little bit of speed you can take advantage of those kind of things,” Schaffner said of Manring and Frankhouse hustling and making plays.
Carter Keinath pitched a complete game for Galion. Keinath allowed just three hits and no earned runs. The senior recorded a pair of strikeouts.
“All our guys touched the ball. We made our plays,” Schaffner said. “He did what he needed to and our guys made the plays behind him, which is great.”
Brock Talbott started for the Colts and went four innings, allowing a run and striking out one batter. Ethan Staley came on in relief for an inning and did his job smoothly. Luke Schlosser finished it out for Clear Fork on the mound.
Schaffner knows his team is in a good spot, but wants to focus on each play and pitch, not looking ahead.
“Our target is to play the baseball. One pitch at a time and one play at a time. We want to control the things we can control,” he said.
Up next for Galion is a home doubleheader on Saturday against Ashland. The first game starts at 11 a.m. at Heise Park.
Clear Fork is scheduled to play Bellevue on Thursday at Peaceful Valley on the campus of Heidelberg University in Tiffin.
