Wawasee coach John Blunk had a decision to make.

It was a choice he had to make between pitchers Rod Holterman and Josh Mitchell. And it was so tough, Blunk had three lineups before the game started, and it basically depended on who was pitching.

He turned one lineup into the press box, and minutes before the game, he turned in a second. He finally decided on Holterman, or actually his pitchers decided on Holterman.

With both pitchers warming up, at first it looked as tough it would be Mitchell and his curveball would be the man. But as the warm up period went on, Holterman and his fastball got the call.

Mitchell told Blunk that Holterman should get the start.

Holterman went out and allowed Warsaw just three hits and struck out eight en route to a 3-1 Wawasee win Monday in the Warsaw Baseball Sectional semifinals.

Warsaw coach Will Shepherd was certainly impressed, again, with the pitcher who has three wins against his team this season.

"He is impressive," Shepherd said. "He keeps his team in the game, and he makes big pitches at big times. It is no fluke that when he is on the mound they are a solid club. I know when you are facing him, you can't blow opportunities. We only had a few, but we blew a couple of those. He had our number all year."

Shawn Johnson opened the game for Wawasee by lofting a popup that Tiger shortstop Craig Thomas dropped. By the time Thomas retrieved the ball, Johnson was on second. He scored on a single by Rob Burke.

Warsaw got a leadoff single from Jason Barrett in the second, but he was erased when Andy Holst bunted into a 1-6-3 double play while trying to sacrifice. The Tigers eventually tied the score in the fifth when Holst singled and pinch runner Mike VanLaeken scored on a Matt Kloser single.

Wawasee got the winning runs in the sixth when Mitchell singled and reached second when Warsaw pitcher Craig Lankford threw too late to second to get Mitchell on Jesse Leonard's bunt. Holterman loaded the bases when his popup was mishandled by Thomas. Jeff Beer's double scored Mitchell and Leonard.

"The bunt double play was big," Shepherd said. "We did some things today that they took advantage of and a good team will. Two dropped popups on the infield - that is shades of April. We tried to get the out at second on their bunt, and we haven't done that all year. We got greedy. That hurts you at crunch time."

For Wawasee, it was another example of getting production from a different player each game. In the first round of the sectional against Columbia City, it was Leonard's three hits. This time it was Beer.

"Jeff is swinging the bat well," Blunk said. "It is a different guy for us each time. We have no superstars. We are just a bunch of hackers going out there. We have our lunch pails, and we go do the job. It is more fun that way."

The Tigers got a good game from sophomore-to-be Craig Lankford, who allowed only five hits and one earned run.

"Craig Lankford kept us in the game," Shepherd said. "Being a freshman in a big game, he kept us right in it. They really didn't have any big hacks against him."

Warsaw ends the season at 13-16, but should improve on that next year with a roster full of underclassmen.

"They are a good team, and they will be a team to reckon with in the NLC for the next couple of years," Blunk said. [[In-content Ad]]