Tiger Baseball Team Tops Rival Warriors
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Playing through a combined seven errors and numerous wild pitches and pass balls, the Warsaw Tigers and Wawasee Warriors opened their Northern Lakes Conference season with a 12-10 Tigers' home win Monday.[[In-content Ad]]"We had a few mental miscues," Wawasee coach Jeff Phillips said. "We limit those, we're in this game."
Wawasee's first miscue came in the first inning, when Warsaw got on the board following an errant throw from catcher to pitcher, allowing Tiger junior Blayke Kaufman to score from third.
The first run may have come in a painful way, but Wawasee saw three more Warsaw runners cross homeplate following wild pitches. Scoring four runs via Wawasee miscues, Warsaw coach Scott Hepler was happy with the win, but aware his team was fortunate to pick up its first victory of the year.
"We're finding out that we gotta work a lot harder - that we don't win games on paper," Hepler said. "We've got a lot of improvements to make, we really do.
"I'm proud of our kids for battling tough," he added. "Wawasee really battled hard. They had a few miscues, we had a few miscues. It was almost like a battle of attrition at the end."
While Warsaw did win the game, it may have suffered a major loss as senior pitcher Jordan Kistler had to leave the game prior to the third inning after hearing a pop in his elbow during warm-ups.
"It was just a weird thing," Hepler said of Kistler's injury. "He came out for the third inning to warm up, then just had something pop. He tried to throw a little bit, but had nothing. He said, 'Coach, I'm done. I can't do it.'"
The injury was sustained on his throwing elbow, with the pitcher signed up to pitch at Iowa-Western leaving the game to go get X-rays at the hospital.
"It definitely hurts us," Hepler said of the possibility of losing his No. 1 pitcher for an extended period of time. "Anytime you lose a Jordan Kistler, it's tough. There's no question about it. We'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says. Hopefully, he can come back."
Junior reliever Josh Miller came in for Kistler, earning the win after Warsaw scored three runs in the bottom of the frame, taking a 4-3 lead.
Warsaw pushed its lead to as much as 8-3 after senior Daniel Conrad scored following a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth.
However, just when it appeared Warsaw was going to run away with the game, Wawasee scored four runs in the top of sixth. The runs pulled the Warriors within 9-8, and may have crept even closer if Warsaw had not thrown out Jose Rodriguez out at the plate as he attempted to score a second run following an error on Dan Dingeldein hit.
"We like the fact that we fight back," Phillips said. "We never gave up. We're down, four, five runs a couple of times and came back. So those are the kind of things that early in the NLC season, we can't complain about."
After fighting back, Wawasee saw the margin increase once again in the bottom half of the inning.
After Miller drove in Conrad on a single, and Chase Byerly reached base on a single of his own, Warsaw was up 10-8 with Miller at third and Byerly on first. Hepler then called for a suicide squeeze with Andy Conrad at the plate. As Miller crossed home plate, the throw to first base drew Wawasee's Jake Goldenberg into the path of Conrad. After the two collided, the ball got away, allowing Byerly to score all the way from first, increasing the lead to 12-8.
"I felt it was a call that they may not have been expecting," Hepler said. "Andy did a great job of executing that. We got a fortunate break, with the ball going down the line, allowing Chase to score all the way from first base."
Even after Warsaw pushed its lead back to four, Wawasee still had its chances in the top of the seventh.
Warsaw reliever Jeff Himes was greeted by a Kyle Voirol double. Himes then recorded a strike out, before Phillip Fleagle drove Voirol in on a single. Just when things were going Wawasee's way, Fleagle was picked off at first on a close play, but it wasn't the first time Wawasee came out on the short end of close calls in the game.
"You have games like this, where you have some calls that don't go the way you'd like them to, but you have to control the things you can control," Phillips, who had a few conversations with the umpires during the game, said. "We can't control what calls are made - strikes, balls, outs - you can't control those type of things. The umpire can't miss a call when you hit a double to the fence, he can't miss that one."
Making the pickoff even harder to take was the fact that Goldenberg then went deep at his at-bat, closing the gap to 12-10. After the dinger, Himes closed the game out with a strikeout, ending the contest.
Warsaw's Daniel Conrad and Braden Kline shared identical stats for the game, each going with 2 for 3 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. For Wawasee, Jose Rodriguez hit a home run the only time he wasn't walked, which was three times. Goldenberg also went 2 for 4, driving in three, including his solo home run in the seventh.
Both teams will be back in NLC action Wednesday, Warsaw travelling to Goshen for a 5 p.m. game and Wawasee visiting Elkhart Memorial for a 5 p.m. contest.
WARSAW 12, WAWASEE 10
Waw 030 014 2 - 10 9 3
War 103 413 x - 12 8 4
Jordan Kistler, Josh Miller (3, W), Chris Utley (6), Jeff Himes (7) and Braden Kline; Jake Goldenberg (L), Chas Amadeo (4), Mike Milligan (6) and Dylan Wallace.
2B - Goldenberg (Waw), Himes (War), Daniel Conrad (War), Kline (War), Jake Sommers (Waw), Josh Vallejo (Waw), Kyle Voirol (waw)
HR - Jose Rodriguez (Waw), Goldenberg (Waw)
Records - Wawasee 1-2 (0-1 NLC), Warsaw 1-1 (1-0 NLC)
JV - Warsaw 16, Wawasee 0
Wawa 000 00 - 0
War 434 5X - 16
Warsaw leaders - James Miglin 3-run homer, Tom Daniels 3-run homer
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Playing through a combined seven errors and numerous wild pitches and pass balls, the Warsaw Tigers and Wawasee Warriors opened their Northern Lakes Conference season with a 12-10 Tigers' home win Monday.[[In-content Ad]]"We had a few mental miscues," Wawasee coach Jeff Phillips said. "We limit those, we're in this game."
Wawasee's first miscue came in the first inning, when Warsaw got on the board following an errant throw from catcher to pitcher, allowing Tiger junior Blayke Kaufman to score from third.
The first run may have come in a painful way, but Wawasee saw three more Warsaw runners cross homeplate following wild pitches. Scoring four runs via Wawasee miscues, Warsaw coach Scott Hepler was happy with the win, but aware his team was fortunate to pick up its first victory of the year.
"We're finding out that we gotta work a lot harder - that we don't win games on paper," Hepler said. "We've got a lot of improvements to make, we really do.
"I'm proud of our kids for battling tough," he added. "Wawasee really battled hard. They had a few miscues, we had a few miscues. It was almost like a battle of attrition at the end."
While Warsaw did win the game, it may have suffered a major loss as senior pitcher Jordan Kistler had to leave the game prior to the third inning after hearing a pop in his elbow during warm-ups.
"It was just a weird thing," Hepler said of Kistler's injury. "He came out for the third inning to warm up, then just had something pop. He tried to throw a little bit, but had nothing. He said, 'Coach, I'm done. I can't do it.'"
The injury was sustained on his throwing elbow, with the pitcher signed up to pitch at Iowa-Western leaving the game to go get X-rays at the hospital.
"It definitely hurts us," Hepler said of the possibility of losing his No. 1 pitcher for an extended period of time. "Anytime you lose a Jordan Kistler, it's tough. There's no question about it. We'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says. Hopefully, he can come back."
Junior reliever Josh Miller came in for Kistler, earning the win after Warsaw scored three runs in the bottom of the frame, taking a 4-3 lead.
Warsaw pushed its lead to as much as 8-3 after senior Daniel Conrad scored following a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth.
However, just when it appeared Warsaw was going to run away with the game, Wawasee scored four runs in the top of sixth. The runs pulled the Warriors within 9-8, and may have crept even closer if Warsaw had not thrown out Jose Rodriguez out at the plate as he attempted to score a second run following an error on Dan Dingeldein hit.
"We like the fact that we fight back," Phillips said. "We never gave up. We're down, four, five runs a couple of times and came back. So those are the kind of things that early in the NLC season, we can't complain about."
After fighting back, Wawasee saw the margin increase once again in the bottom half of the inning.
After Miller drove in Conrad on a single, and Chase Byerly reached base on a single of his own, Warsaw was up 10-8 with Miller at third and Byerly on first. Hepler then called for a suicide squeeze with Andy Conrad at the plate. As Miller crossed home plate, the throw to first base drew Wawasee's Jake Goldenberg into the path of Conrad. After the two collided, the ball got away, allowing Byerly to score all the way from first, increasing the lead to 12-8.
"I felt it was a call that they may not have been expecting," Hepler said. "Andy did a great job of executing that. We got a fortunate break, with the ball going down the line, allowing Chase to score all the way from first base."
Even after Warsaw pushed its lead back to four, Wawasee still had its chances in the top of the seventh.
Warsaw reliever Jeff Himes was greeted by a Kyle Voirol double. Himes then recorded a strike out, before Phillip Fleagle drove Voirol in on a single. Just when things were going Wawasee's way, Fleagle was picked off at first on a close play, but it wasn't the first time Wawasee came out on the short end of close calls in the game.
"You have games like this, where you have some calls that don't go the way you'd like them to, but you have to control the things you can control," Phillips, who had a few conversations with the umpires during the game, said. "We can't control what calls are made - strikes, balls, outs - you can't control those type of things. The umpire can't miss a call when you hit a double to the fence, he can't miss that one."
Making the pickoff even harder to take was the fact that Goldenberg then went deep at his at-bat, closing the gap to 12-10. After the dinger, Himes closed the game out with a strikeout, ending the contest.
Warsaw's Daniel Conrad and Braden Kline shared identical stats for the game, each going with 2 for 3 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. For Wawasee, Jose Rodriguez hit a home run the only time he wasn't walked, which was three times. Goldenberg also went 2 for 4, driving in three, including his solo home run in the seventh.
Both teams will be back in NLC action Wednesday, Warsaw travelling to Goshen for a 5 p.m. game and Wawasee visiting Elkhart Memorial for a 5 p.m. contest.
WARSAW 12, WAWASEE 10
Waw 030 014 2 - 10 9 3
War 103 413 x - 12 8 4
Jordan Kistler, Josh Miller (3, W), Chris Utley (6), Jeff Himes (7) and Braden Kline; Jake Goldenberg (L), Chas Amadeo (4), Mike Milligan (6) and Dylan Wallace.
2B - Goldenberg (Waw), Himes (War), Daniel Conrad (War), Kline (War), Jake Sommers (Waw), Josh Vallejo (Waw), Kyle Voirol (waw)
HR - Jose Rodriguez (Waw), Goldenberg (Waw)
Records - Wawasee 1-2 (0-1 NLC), Warsaw 1-1 (1-0 NLC)
JV - Warsaw 16, Wawasee 0
Wawa 000 00 - 0
War 434 5X - 16
Warsaw leaders - James Miglin 3-run homer, Tom Daniels 3-run homer
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