Warsaw baseball coach Will Shepherd was worried about how his team would bounce back.

After working on the field for nearly an hour Wednesday, the Tigers learned that their Northern Lakes Conference game against NorthWood was postponed.

"I was concerned," said Shepherd. "We pushed the game back, and then there weren't beautiful blue skies. It would have been easy to have a let-down out there tonight, but the Tigers came out to play baseball."

So the Warsaw squad hit the field with enthusiasm and picked up a 15-0 win over the visiting Panthers in a five-inning game.

After neither team scored in the first inning, the Warsaw bats came to life in the bottom of the second frame.

Zack Smith walked and then moved to second base on a single hit by Berto Nunez. After Josh Stork walked to load the bases, Jeremy Sharp pounded a single to right field that scored Smith.

Tiger pitcher Mark Sherman walked to send Nunez home, and then a double by Brandon LaFollette sent three runs home and put Warsaw up 5-0.

Ryan DeGeeter reached first on a walk. He rounded second and reached third, while LaFollette scored on wild pitch. A throwing error by NorthWood's catcher allowed DeGeeter to score, putting Warsaw up 7-0.

However, that wasn't the score for long. William Knepper stepped to the plate and smacked a home run over the right-field fence to make the score 8-0.

But the Tigers were not finished. Nunez got his second hit of the inning, and moved to second as Josh Stork reached base on a error by the Panther third baseman. Sharp hit an RBI-single to centerfield, and Sherman hit a double to the left-field fence that scored two more Warsaw runs.

In all, Warsaw scored 11 runs on seven hits in the second inning.

Warsaw scored four more runs in the bottom of the third inning as DeGeeter and Knepper walked and Nunez, Stork and Sharp each pounded out hits.

After NorthWood was unable to score in the fourth or fifth inning, the game was over.

Sherman picked up the win on the mound for the Tigers, pitching four innings with five strikeouts and just one walk. Hans Griepentrog pitched the final inning for the Warsaw squad, allowing one hit and striking out three batters.

"Mark missed a turn Saturday because he had a family obligation," said Shepherd. "He came out here and did exactly what he needed to do after missing a game. He looked like he hadn't missed a game at all. NorthWood is a good hitting club, and he kept them off balance. He changed up the speeds and did a nice job."

The win moves Warsaw's record to 16-2 overall and 10-0 in NLC play. NorthWood is 5-13 overall and 2-8 in the NLC. Warsaw travels to Middlebury for a game against Northridge tonight.

WARSAW 15, NORTHWOOD 0, 5 innings

NorthWood 000 00 - 0 2 1

Warsaw 0(11)4 0X - 15 12 1

NorthWood AB R H RBI

Adams 2b 2 0 0 0

To. Mast ss 1 0 0 0

Martin 3b 2 0 0 0

Estepp c 2 0 0 0

Tr. Mast rf 2 0 0 0

Flickinger cf 2 0 1 0

Henke 1b 1 0 0 0

Sumpter ph 1 0 0 0

Hahn dh 2 0 1 0

Burnett lf 1 0 0 0

Chupp ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 17 0 2 0

Warsaw AB R H RBI

Alderfer ss 4 0 0 0

LaFollette cf 4 1 3 3

DeGeeter 3b 2 1 0 0

Thomas pr 0 1 0 0

Knepper 1b 3 2 1 1

Smith rf 2 1 0 0

Nunez dh 3 3 3 1

Stork c 2 3 1 1

Sharp 2b 3 2 3 4

Sherman p 2 1 1 3

Totals 25 15 12 13

LOB -ÊNorthWood 2, Warsaw 4. 2B - LaFollette, Sharp, Sherman. 3B -ÊLaFollette. HR -ÊKnepper.

IP R ER H BB SO

NorthWood

Hall, L 2-3 1.2 7 7 4 4 1

Martin 1.0 8 6 7 2 1

Flickinger 1.1 0 0 1 0 1

Warsaw

Sherman W, 3-1 4 0 0 1 1 5

Griepentrog 1 0 0 1 0 3 [[In-content Ad]]