ELKHART - Facing Goshen ace David Troyer, Warsaw would have gladly taken four runs.

The Tigers got them.

Unfortunately for Warsaw, though, pitching and defense seemed to be a different matter as Goshen ended the Tigers' eight-game winning streak with a 6-4 win in the Elkhart Memorial 4A Sectional Monday.

The loss marks the third time this season that Warsaw (20-8) lost to Goshen (18-11) as the Redskins accounted for almost half of the Tigers' loss total this year.

"Goshen got us three times," Warsaw coach Will Shepherd said. "They aren't doing it with smoke and mirrors. They have a heck of a club. If you would have given me four runs at the start of this game, I would have been happy."

Troyer has mowed down everybody in sight this season to the tune of a 10-1 record and an ERA below 1.00. But Warsaw was more than up to the challenge, at least early on.

"Warsaw hit David, I think, better than any team has hit him all year," Goshen coach Brian Eldridge said. "Will (Shepherd) has done a heck of a job with them all year. Compared to the last couple of games, this was work. At Bremen and Elkhart Central, I didn't do much strategy or coaching-wise, but tonight..."

The Tigers got to Troyer early, building a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning led by two solo home runs from Pat Riley and Jason Barrett.

"We had a tape of him, and we watched it," Shepherd said of Troyer. "And I challenged the kids. Two of the kids that I really got on were Riley and Barrett. Obviously the challenge was accepted and exceeded."

Things fell apart for Warsaw in the fourth inning when Goshen got four runs on just two hits as the Tigers kicked the ball around for three errors in the frame to open a 6-4 lead.

"For the first time in about three weeks, we just let down defensively," Shepherd said. "That is disappointing because this team has really taken great strides defensively. Against a good hitting team like Goshen, you have to make the plays because they will put it in play. We don't have a strikeout pitcher, so we have to rely on people making plays, and we just didn't make enough of them."

Troyer did the rest, settling down to retire nine of the last 12 Warsaw hitters. The Tigers threatened in the seventh with two runners on, but Troyer got Steve Siebenmorgen to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

"David started to find the strike zone after struggling the first two innings," Eldridge said. "When he is on, he is hot. He was getting the ball up. When he gets the ball down by the ankles, there isn't a batter around who can turn on him.

"Defense has bailed us out at times this year, and to end the game on a sweet double play was nice," he said. "We took advantage of that (Warsaw errors) and were able to move the ball around and get some base hits."

Troyer surrendered six Warsaw hits, including two each from Riley and Joe Stanley, but he also got 13 strikeouts against the Tigers.

"We worked on staying off the bench high in the zone," Shepherd said. "The pitch that gave us trouble tonight was the breaking pitch. We went out of the strike zone too much on that pitch. When a guy throws 90-mph, it is hard to ask a 142-pound kid to go up there and lay off that pitch."

The loss puts an end to Warsaw's best season on the diamond since its 1988 club that won 20 games and went to the IHSAA Final Four.

"I couldn't be prouder of this bunch," Shepherd said. "We really made strides. Our program had a great year, up and down from the freshmen through the senior class. Hopefully, they (underclassmen) will learn from the pain of tonight."

Goshen now faces Elkhart Memorial Thursday at 3:30 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]