What this year's edition of the Warsaw baseball team lacks in experience, it seems to make up for in heart and guts.

The senior-less Tigers were down 7-1 to Plymouth (the No. 6 preseason team in the state), before rallying for seven runs to get back into the game, but watched as the Pilgrims came back for an 11-9 win Friday at Tiger Field.

"Offensively, we are never out of it," Warsaw coach Will Shepherd said. "It is not because we have home run hitters because we don't. We have some kids who hit the ball hard. I felt like we were never out of it. I watched this team in JV, and they never gave up. I knew collectively we could do some things offensively."

Warsaw may not have many home run hitters, but it was a big blast that got the Tigers back into the contest. After cutting the margin to 7-4 in the fourth, Warsaw's Evan Miller stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and crushed a shot over the center-field fence for his second homer of the season and an 8-7 Tiger lead.

The Pilgrims broke a 9-9 tie in the top of the seventh when Ryan Colvin's two-run triple went to the gap in right-center field and scored two runs. Before Colvin's shot and runners on second and third, Shepherd chose not to face the Pilgrims' Matt Cramer and instead walked Cramer to face Colvin. A move that backfired, but one that Shepherd would make again.

"It is not that I have disrespect for the kid hitting behind him," Shepherd said. "The kid (Colvin) is a very good athlete. In crunch time situations, of anybody on the Plymouth team I am not letting Cramer get a hack at it. Not with first base open. The Colvin kid stepped up.

"I have seen it too many times if you give a really good competitor like Matt an opportunity to hit the ball hard in that situation, he will," he said. "I wasn't going to."

Plymouth jumped out to its big lead with a 6-run third inning, helped by three walks from Warsaw starter Miller and a Warsaw error.

Miller struggled again with his control, walking eight batters, but he seemed to battle when he had to and didn't get much help from the Warsaw defense.

"I was going to let Evan have the opportunity to win or lose the game when they did hit the triple (Colvin)," Shepherd said. "When a kid battles the way he did without his best stuff, he deserved the chance.

"They don't understand yet, you have to play defense, especially in this league," he said. "When a pitcher throws a pop up, it has to be an out."

Miller did knock in five runs with his bat, and Joe Stanley added a 3 for 3 performance. Stanley now has six hits in his last two games.

"Players get in grooves like that," Shepherd said. "Down deep, Joe loves to hit the baseball hard. I am pleased to say there is a sophomore stepping up."

Warsaw (4-6) came out of the first week of the Northern Lakes Conference season with a 1-2 record.

"We have a real opportunity to come out of this week 2-1," Shepherd said. "We let it slip away. We faded under a little bit of pressure tonight. What we have to do is learn from it."

Warsaw is at NorthWood Monday. [[In-content Ad]]