Fort Frye seniors receive their district runner-up plaque after falling to Hiland 11-2 Friday at Ridgewood. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

WEST LAFAYETTE – One quick glance at a stat sheet will quickly answer what led to the demise of the Fort Frye Cadets Friday night in the Division 6, district final at Ridgewood High School against top-seeded Berlin Hiland.

Offensively the Cadets stranded 12 base runners and Fort Frye pitchers issued nine free passes as their season came to a close with an 11-2 loss to the Hawks.

Despite missing out on a couple of early opportunities to build a pretty good lead over the Hawks, the Cadets did manage to carry a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third inning before things unraveled.

Three of the first four Cadet hitters walked in the opening inning off of Hawk starting pitcher Grady Monigold.

Left fielder Chatum Courson became the fourth Cadet to receive a free pass in the first inning and that brought in Jack McCurdy with the first run of the game.

Monigold managed to minimize the damage though when he got Clayton Tulius to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The Cadets handed the ball to Kainan Bradford to start the game and he blanked the Hawks over the first two innings.

The Cadets got a pair of runners on base in the top of the second inning when Zander Lowe reached on an error and one-out later McCurdy singled but Monigold got Grady Hesson to fly out to fairly-deep left field to end the inning.

Fort Frye picked up their second run of the game in the top of the third when with one out Grady Shuster, Courson and Tulius strung together consecutive base hits.

Once again the Cadets missed a chance to get greedy as Monigold bounced back to fan the final two hitters of the inning to keep the score at 2-0.

The bottom of the third would prove disastrous for the Cadets and it all started with a base on balls to Isaiah Wagner, the number nine hitter in the Hawk lineup.

Bradford would retire the next two Hawk hitters before walking Monigold.

Catcher Griffin Monigold followed with a sharp double down the left field line to score Wagner with the first run of the game for the Hawks.

First baseman Jonah Yoder walked to load the bases as did Mike Miller whose free pass allowed Grady Monigold to score the tying run.

Andre Yoder then put the Hawks in front with a two-run double down the left field line.

Miller came in to score the fifth run of the inning when Bradford uncorked a wild pitch.

The Cadets stranded a runner in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth before Hiland broke things open in the bottom of the fifth.

Griffin Monigold led off the inning by drawing another walk and Cadet head coach Trey Engle elected to replace Bradford on the mound with McCurdy.

Jonah Yoder greeted McCurdy with a single and one out later Andre Yoder walked.

Griffin Monigold came in to score on a wild pitch and an infield grounder off the bat of Logan Yoder plated Jonah Yoder with the second run of the inning.

Wagner then put an exclamation point on a big night for the Hawks when he swung at a 3-0 pitch and crushed it over the left field fence for a two-run homer and a 9-2 lead.

Eight of the nine Berlin Hiland batters that reached base via a base on balls or a hit by pitch came into score.

“Obviously you just can’t do that against a team as good as they are,” said Engle. “They are a great team and they are used to winning so you can’t give them extra opportunities and you have to take advantage of the ones you have and unfortunately tonight we didn’t.”

Fort Frye got a one-out double by McCurdy and a double by Grady Hesson in the top of the sixth but came up empty once again.

Hiland added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth on run-scoring singles by Jonah Yoder and Mike Miller.

After Grady Monigold went four solid innings on the bump for Hiland they turned to Andre Yoder to close out the game.

Yoder allowed three hits and fanned a couple over the final three innings to pick up the save for Monigold.

The win improved Berlin Hiland’s season mark to 22-4 and punches their ticket to regional play beginning Wednesday at Beavers Field in Lancaster against the red-hot Waterford Wildcats.

While the Hawks move on the loss brings an end to the Cadets season with an outstanding 21-6 record.

It also brings to an end the Cadet careers of the six Fort Frye seniors on this year’s roster.

Bradford, McCurdy, Carter Brown, Courson, Lowe all played their final game in Fort Frye uniforms joining Wyatt Duskey who enlisted in the service and left earlier in week.

“Their record from the time they were freshmen until they were seniors is up there and these kids decided when they were young to believe in the system,” said Engle. “They did every single thing we asked them to and I’m super proud of them. They are definitely going to be missed by Fort Frye a lot.”

While all of the seniors have a special place in Engle’s heart, none more than Courson, who battled back from a broken back suffered while playing basketball this winter to excel on the diamond this spring.

“He’s comeback player of the year no doubt… There’s not many people that can say they broke their back in 10 places and still came back and played baseball,” said Engle. “Emotions aside he’s probably one of my favorite kids I have ever coached and seeing him come back and the joy on his face was awesome.”

The game will also be the final one as Cadet head coach for Engle, who has taken the position of athletic director at Shenandoah High School.

Engle took over as head coach after the sudden loss of Sonny Bidwell four years ago and led the Cadets to over 70 wins the past four seasons.

“I came in and tried to protect something that someone in front of me built in Coach Bidwell and I hope I did a decent job,” said Engle. “I hope I did right by him and it’s tough because this has been home for the last 26 years. It’s definitely a tough goodbye and I’m going to miss it.”

OHSAA Division VI Eastern District Final

at Ridgewood High School

#1 Berlin Hiland 11, #3 Fort Frye 2

FFHS 101 000 0 2-7-0

BHHS 005 042 X 11-8-2

WP: Grady Monigold 4IP, 4H, 2ER, 5BB, 3SO, Save: Andre Yoder 3IP, 3H, 2SO.

LP: Kainan Bradford: 4IP, 4H, 6ER, 6BB, 4 SO, Jack McCurdy: 1.1 IP, 2H, 5ER, 2BB, SO, Ty Worthington: .2 IP, 2H.

Fort Frye (21-6) hitting: Jack McCurdy 2-3, R, 2B, Clayton Tulius 2-4, RBI, Grady Hesson 1-3, Grady Shuster 1-3, R, Chatum Courson 1-3, RBI.

Berlin Hiland (22-4) hitting: Jonah Yoder 2-3, 2R, RBI, Andre Yoder 2-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, Isaiah Wagner 1-2, 2R, 2 RBI, HR, Grady Monigold 1-2, 2R, Griffin Monigold 1-2, 2R, RBI, 2B, Mike Miller 1-3, R, RBI.

Next Game: D-6 Regional Semi-Final, Waterford vs. Berlin Hiland, at Beavers Field, Lancaster.