Wawasee Season Ends With 1-0 Loss
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Angola -ÊAny time Wawasee senior left-hander Drew Gradle takes the mound, you can generally count on two things.
One, Gradle keeps his baseball team in the ballgame.
Two, Wawasee has a hard time scoring runs.
The Wawasee Warriors saw their 2000 season come to a close 1-0 at the hands of the Lakeland Lakers at the Angola Class 3A Sectional 21 Tuesday.
The first game of sectional play generally pits the opposing aces of both teams. Tuesday evening proved to be a classic pitchers' duel with Laker Mitch Todd getting the upper hand.Ê
The lone run of the contest was scored in Lakeland's half of the second.Ê
With the bases loaded and only one out, Lakeland coach Craig Harp called for Geoff Fry to lay down a safety squeeze.
Fry bunted back to Gradle, who looked at home for the force but decided to get the sure out at first, thus scoring Brandon Kearns.
Harp explained, "We were happy to just get it down ... I thought maybe Gradle was coming home, but he didn't."
Wawasee was not without its share of scoring opportunities.
With runners on second and third of a 1-0 game, Todd caught Dan Milligan looking at strike three, ending the Warrior threat.
Wawasee was not finished.
In its half of the seventh, Wawasee's first two batters reached base with hits. Next came the moment of truth for the Warriors.
Wawasee coach John Blunk instructed Ronnie Black to lay down a sacrifice, which he did not execute. Black took the first pitch down the middle and failed on strike two. With two strikes, the bunt was taken off, and Black struck out as did the next batter, Dustin Sumpter.
Blunk obviously was not pleased with the Warrior effort in the seventh.
"You don't get the bunt down, you don't win ... it is just that simple. You have to do the little things to win a low-scoring ball game. This is still a team game and not an individual game."
ÊAs for the two pitchers, both coaches praised their performances.Ê
Ê"Drew pitched a hellacious game for us," said Blunk.
Ê"Todd pitched as well as he has all year," said Harp as Todd's 9-3 record would attest. Todd struck out 10 Warriors while issuing zero walks.
ÊWawasee sees its season end with 11 wins, four more than the previous season. Lakeland continues its season Saturday at 11 a.m. against the Northwood Panthers. Host school Angola faces West Noble in the other semifinal at 1:30 p.m. The two winners will play at 7:30 p.m.
LAKELAND 1, WAWASEE 0
Wawasee 000 000 0 - 0 4 0
Lakeland 010 000 X - 1 4 1
Wawasee ab h r rbi
B. Milligan cf 3 0 0 0
Adkins ss 3 0 0 0
Gradle p 3 1 0 0
Wilson rf 3 1 0 0
Doty c 3 2 0 0
Black 1b 3 0 0 0
Gibson 0 0 0 0
Ashpole dh 3 0 0 0
Sumpter 3b 3 1 0 0
D. Milligan 2b 2 0 0 0
Totals 26 5 0 0
Lakeland ab h r rbi
B. Miller c 2 0 0 0
Duncan cf 3 1 0 0
Todd p 3 1 0 0
C. Fry lf 3 0 0 0
Kearns 2b 3 2 1 0
Vander Roest 1b 1 0 0 0
Frank ss 1 0 0 0
Harp dh 2 0 0 0
G. Fry 3b 1 0 0 1
Totals 19 4 1 1
E - Frank. LOB - Wawasee 5, Lakeland 4. 2B - Kearns 2. Sac - G. Fry. CS - Wilson. DP - Wawasee (Gradle, Black).
Wawasee IP H R ER K BB
Gradle, L 6 4 1 1 8 3
Lakeland IP H R ER K BB
Todd, W 7 4 0 0 10 0 [[In-content Ad]]
Angola -ÊAny time Wawasee senior left-hander Drew Gradle takes the mound, you can generally count on two things.
One, Gradle keeps his baseball team in the ballgame.
Two, Wawasee has a hard time scoring runs.
The Wawasee Warriors saw their 2000 season come to a close 1-0 at the hands of the Lakeland Lakers at the Angola Class 3A Sectional 21 Tuesday.
The first game of sectional play generally pits the opposing aces of both teams. Tuesday evening proved to be a classic pitchers' duel with Laker Mitch Todd getting the upper hand.Ê
The lone run of the contest was scored in Lakeland's half of the second.Ê
With the bases loaded and only one out, Lakeland coach Craig Harp called for Geoff Fry to lay down a safety squeeze.
Fry bunted back to Gradle, who looked at home for the force but decided to get the sure out at first, thus scoring Brandon Kearns.
Harp explained, "We were happy to just get it down ... I thought maybe Gradle was coming home, but he didn't."
Wawasee was not without its share of scoring opportunities.
With runners on second and third of a 1-0 game, Todd caught Dan Milligan looking at strike three, ending the Warrior threat.
Wawasee was not finished.
In its half of the seventh, Wawasee's first two batters reached base with hits. Next came the moment of truth for the Warriors.
Wawasee coach John Blunk instructed Ronnie Black to lay down a sacrifice, which he did not execute. Black took the first pitch down the middle and failed on strike two. With two strikes, the bunt was taken off, and Black struck out as did the next batter, Dustin Sumpter.
Blunk obviously was not pleased with the Warrior effort in the seventh.
"You don't get the bunt down, you don't win ... it is just that simple. You have to do the little things to win a low-scoring ball game. This is still a team game and not an individual game."
ÊAs for the two pitchers, both coaches praised their performances.Ê
Ê"Drew pitched a hellacious game for us," said Blunk.
Ê"Todd pitched as well as he has all year," said Harp as Todd's 9-3 record would attest. Todd struck out 10 Warriors while issuing zero walks.
ÊWawasee sees its season end with 11 wins, four more than the previous season. Lakeland continues its season Saturday at 11 a.m. against the Northwood Panthers. Host school Angola faces West Noble in the other semifinal at 1:30 p.m. The two winners will play at 7:30 p.m.
LAKELAND 1, WAWASEE 0
Wawasee 000 000 0 - 0 4 0
Lakeland 010 000 X - 1 4 1
Wawasee ab h r rbi
B. Milligan cf 3 0 0 0
Adkins ss 3 0 0 0
Gradle p 3 1 0 0
Wilson rf 3 1 0 0
Doty c 3 2 0 0
Black 1b 3 0 0 0
Gibson 0 0 0 0
Ashpole dh 3 0 0 0
Sumpter 3b 3 1 0 0
D. Milligan 2b 2 0 0 0
Totals 26 5 0 0
Lakeland ab h r rbi
B. Miller c 2 0 0 0
Duncan cf 3 1 0 0
Todd p 3 1 0 0
C. Fry lf 3 0 0 0
Kearns 2b 3 2 1 0
Vander Roest 1b 1 0 0 0
Frank ss 1 0 0 0
Harp dh 2 0 0 0
G. Fry 3b 1 0 0 1
Totals 19 4 1 1
E - Frank. LOB - Wawasee 5, Lakeland 4. 2B - Kearns 2. Sac - G. Fry. CS - Wilson. DP - Wawasee (Gradle, Black).
Wawasee IP H R ER K BB
Gradle, L 6 4 1 1 8 3
Lakeland IP H R ER K BB
Todd, W 7 4 0 0 10 0 [[In-content Ad]]