SYRACUSE - How tough is the Northern Lakes Conference?

When NLC front-runner Warsaw met NLC basement-dweller Wawasee Wednesday, the result was a competitive baseball game that came down to the last batter in the final inning. Warsaw held off a late Warrior comeback attempt for a 5-4 victory that keeps the Tigers in control of their own destiny in the NLC.

Warsaw is now 5-2 in the conference and held a slim half-game lead over two other teams in the NLC heading into Wednesday's game.

"If we win out, we've got at least a share of the conference title," Warsaw head coach Will Shepherd said. "Before, we've had to rely on other teams to win games, but that's a tough way to do it."

Warsaw led 3-2 in the seventh and scored two insurance runs when Jason Barrett plated Craig Thomas on a groundout, and Joe Stanley doubled home Andy Holst. Those runs ended up being more important than they were first thought to be, because in the bottom of the seventh, Wawasee got the rally going.

Brad Swope opened the inning with a double that hit the fence on the fly. Tony May then reached on an error that scored Swope. Brent Berkeypile walked, but May was thrown out trying to steal third on a double steal. Luke Baker walked to put runners on the corners. That walk forced Shepherd to pull starting pitcher Evan Miller. Miller had only allowed four hits and struck out eight when Shepherd brought in Craig Lankford to close out the threat.

Lankford got Justin Leonard to ground out that scored Wawasee's fourth run and got Brad Brown to ground out to end the game.

"(Wawasee) battled," Shepherd said. "We had our opportunities early, but we couldn't get hits with runners in scoring position. Wawasee never let us take that next step to put them away."

Miller got the win after pitching 6-1/3 innings, and Lankford got the save. Wawasee's Farhan Haq took the loss despite pitching a complete game.

"Evan Miller kept them off balance," Shepherd said. "Lankford came in and got his third save of the year. Whether we win by one run, eight runs or 12 runs, it doesn't matter to us. We're not burying people."

The first two innings zipped by as Warsaw picked up a single in each of the first two frames, and Wawasee had a single in the first and a walk in the second. But neither team got a baserunner past second.

In the top of the third, Haq began to labor a bit. He walked lead-off batter Miller on four pitches and then gave up a base hit to Pat Riley. A wild pitch and a passed ball scored both of those runners and Thomas walked as Warsaw got another base runner. But Haq struck out Steve Siebenmorgen looking to end the inning with two runs in.

Miller walked Wawasee third baseman Ryan Carrington to open the third inning, but a fielder's choice, a fly-out and a strikeout kept a runner from moving past first.

The Tigers looked to make the knockout punch in the fourth. Barrett walked and moved to third on a Holst double. Stanley followed with a single that scored Barrett and made the score 3-0 without an out. But Sam Wihebrink flew out, Miller struck out, and Riley lined out as Haq kept the damage to a minimum.

In the bottom of the fifth, Wawasee got back into the game when Swope singled and May was hit by a pitch. An overthrow moved both of them over a base and they later scored on an error and a sacrifice from Baker to make the score 3-2.

"This is the best game we've played in three weeks," Wawasee coach John Blunk said. "On any given night, anyone can beat anyone in the NLC. We just can't get over that hump. We've made a lot of errors this year, but tonight we cut them down. We haven't seen anyone that throws as hard as Evan, but we can handle it."

Stanley led Warsaw at the plate with three hits and two RBIs, while Swope and Leonard each had two hits for the Warriors' only hits of the game.

Warsaw (10-4, 5-2) will host Goshen Friday at 4:30 p.m. while Wawasee (4-13, 1-5) will host Concordia Saturday at 10 a.m. [[In-content Ad]]