Tropics' Forck 'easing his way back' from shoulder injury this spring

BENTON – The high school baseball fans throughout Southeast Missouri didn’t catch a glimpse of the true potential on the mound from Kelly High School senior pitcher Dalton Forck this spring after he suffered a strained rotator cuff early in March.

The injury limited him to the point where he didn’t throw in the month of April, and the Hawks used the Three Rivers College commit sparingly in relief in their nice postseason run. However, the 6-foot-8 Forck is slowly getting back into his groove this summer with the Southeast Tropics.

“We’re easing him back into it,” veteran Tropics manager Dustin Schwartz said. “He’s working his way back and his pitch counts are getting higher every game.”

Forck and the Tropics (6-2) will compete in the Aycorp Media Classic today through Sunday with an opening game today at 2:15 p.m. against the LA Rattlers at Kelly High School.

The Tropics will play the Missouri Bulls 18-U squad on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. at Kelly High School.

Forck opened the summer season with an impressive two innings of relief against the Aycorp Charleston Fighting Squirrels, where he didn’t allow a hit or a run while walking one batter and striking out a couple.

In that game, he threw 25 pitches, 15 for strikes.

“In my middle school years,” Forck said of his strategy on the mound, “I felt like I had to strike everybody out. But, when I got to high school, I realized that I’m not alone. If the defense does mess up, they are just going to pick me right up and I want to pick them up.

“It’s a team sport.”

Forck had another no-hit, no-run outing against Ste. Genevieve Post 150 recently in one inning of relief but extended himself in a win on Tuesday over the Cardinal Legacy Perfectos.

In that game, Forck threw 29 strikes in 44 pitches, as he allowed four hits over three innings and struck out three while not allowing a run.

“We’re easing our pitchers into (this summer season),” Schwartz said. “We’re not letting these guys eat just yet. I talked to Dalton about that when I pulled him last game (against Ste. Genevieve), here in a couple of weeks, we’re going to let these guys eat. We’re going to start letting these guys actually go to a pitch count.”

Forck won’t play in the field (he plays first base when not pitching) or hit at Three Rivers, and he is fine with that, which is ironic because he is having a very strong start offensively to his summer season.

Through seven games he has hit in, Forck has eight hits, including two doubles and a triple, eight RBI, has scored four times and walked twice.

The Tropics are amid a 50-7 run differential through their hot start.

“Sometimes you score 10 runs and sometimes you score no runs,” Schwartz said recently. “But these first couple of weeks are about shaking off the rust. Some of these guys haven’t played in a month and a half. That’s a long time for them to be off.

“We’re working on getting our timing back,”  he continued. “Our pitchers are on early pitch counts and we’re not letting them go deep yet. We’re going to ease them back into it and we’ll have them where they need to be by the end of the year.”