Tigers Top T. Valley In Season Opener
April 12, 2018 at 4:34 p.m.
Tigers Top T. Valley In Season Opener
By Dale [email protected]
The Tigers, who have had one outdoor practice in the last two weeks because of challenging weather conditions, led 8-2 after four innings and held off their guests 9-6.
Warsaw scored twice in the first inning, once in the second, three times in the third and then plated four runs in the fourth en route to the big lead.
“Jared Hawley started us off real well ... he had three hits today. Michael Nunez stepped up with a nice double. Brendan Perry hit a nice double. I thought we swung the bat pretty well, and that hasn’t been much of a concern,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler, whose team plays today at state-ranked Huntington North.
“When you do the schedule like we do, and then you take a week and a half off for spring break, and then you come back on Monday and you can’t get outside because it’s just not good weather ... we’ve really had one day outdoors, and that was yesterday. For having that, I thought we played pretty well.
“I didn’t have grand expectations coming into today, I just wanted us to compete, I wanted us to play hard, and I felt like we did. We’ve got a lot to work on, but now we’ve got a barometer to kind of go by, and we know what we’re going to be like. That’s what some of the kids needed. We have a lot of new faces on varsity, and you kind of have to feel your way into the process of what you’re doing. Overall I was pretty pleased. We’ve got some things we have to get better at, but I was pleased.”
The Tigers committed three errors in the field, but overcame that with an offense that produced nine runs on 10 hits.
Hawley, Warsaw’s senior leadoff hitter, led the way with three hits, including a double, to go along with an RBI and a run.
Perry, also a senior, had two hits in the win, including a double, an RBI and two runs. Junior Liam Patton tallied two hits, while Nunez ripped a double and had an RBI and a run.
Valley, after leaving a number of runners stranded on base throughout the game, scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning.
First-year Valley head coach Greg Prater said he was happy to finally get a game in, considering it’s almost mid-April.
“They didn’t quit on me, that’s what I was really proud of,” said Prater, whose team scored its six runs on seven hits. “Being down six runs going into the top of the seventh, they made things happen. We had a little baserunning error that cost us, but it’s early in the year.
“I wanted to see the guys compete against somebody other than ourselves. We’ve been practicing for close to a month, indoors most of the time. We scrimmage in practice against the JV, but it’s nothing like facing another varsity team. We’ve got some hitting we need to work on, and we had some errors here and there, but like I just them, that’s to be expected.
“I admitted to them I was nervous before I got here today. Now we’ve got one under our belt and we’re ready to play baseball. I’m excited for them, and hopefully against Triton on Friday we can show off a little bit.”
Senior Drew Hartman and sophomore Tucker Shull had two hits each for the Vikings, while junior Wes Melanson, sophomore Tanner Trippiedi and freshman Layne Prater had one hit each.
Warsaw junior Matt Shapiro was credited with the win on the mound. He gave up two hits and two runs in two innings of work, which also included two walks and two strikeouts.
Junior Ian Glogovsky pitched three innings for the Tigers, giving up three hits, one run and striking out three.
Juniors Drake Graham and Mason Reber, and sophomore Noah Burgh combined to throw the final two innings for Warsaw, with Burgh credited with the save.
Junior southpaw Lucas Walters started on the mound for Valley and was charged with the loss. Walters gave up six runs, five hits and six walks in 2-2/3 innings, but did strike out five.
Senior Jack Utter and Hartman came on in relief.
WARSAW 9, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 6
TV 020 010 3 – 6 7 2
W 213 201 X – 9 10 3
Valley – Lucas Walters (L, 2.2IP, 5H, 6R, 6BB, 5K), Jack Utter (2.2IP, 4H, 3R, 4BB, 2K), Drew Hartman (.2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K).
Warsaw – Matt Shapiro (W, 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2BB, 2K), Ian Glogovsky (3IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 3K), Drake Graham (1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K), Mason Reber (.1IP, 2H, 3R, 2BB, 0K), Noah Burgh (.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K).
2B – Jared Hawley (W), Michael Nunez (W), Brendan Perry (W)
Records: T. Valley 0-1, Warsaw 1-0
The Tigers, who have had one outdoor practice in the last two weeks because of challenging weather conditions, led 8-2 after four innings and held off their guests 9-6.
Warsaw scored twice in the first inning, once in the second, three times in the third and then plated four runs in the fourth en route to the big lead.
“Jared Hawley started us off real well ... he had three hits today. Michael Nunez stepped up with a nice double. Brendan Perry hit a nice double. I thought we swung the bat pretty well, and that hasn’t been much of a concern,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler, whose team plays today at state-ranked Huntington North.
“When you do the schedule like we do, and then you take a week and a half off for spring break, and then you come back on Monday and you can’t get outside because it’s just not good weather ... we’ve really had one day outdoors, and that was yesterday. For having that, I thought we played pretty well.
“I didn’t have grand expectations coming into today, I just wanted us to compete, I wanted us to play hard, and I felt like we did. We’ve got a lot to work on, but now we’ve got a barometer to kind of go by, and we know what we’re going to be like. That’s what some of the kids needed. We have a lot of new faces on varsity, and you kind of have to feel your way into the process of what you’re doing. Overall I was pretty pleased. We’ve got some things we have to get better at, but I was pleased.”
The Tigers committed three errors in the field, but overcame that with an offense that produced nine runs on 10 hits.
Hawley, Warsaw’s senior leadoff hitter, led the way with three hits, including a double, to go along with an RBI and a run.
Perry, also a senior, had two hits in the win, including a double, an RBI and two runs. Junior Liam Patton tallied two hits, while Nunez ripped a double and had an RBI and a run.
Valley, after leaving a number of runners stranded on base throughout the game, scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning.
First-year Valley head coach Greg Prater said he was happy to finally get a game in, considering it’s almost mid-April.
“They didn’t quit on me, that’s what I was really proud of,” said Prater, whose team scored its six runs on seven hits. “Being down six runs going into the top of the seventh, they made things happen. We had a little baserunning error that cost us, but it’s early in the year.
“I wanted to see the guys compete against somebody other than ourselves. We’ve been practicing for close to a month, indoors most of the time. We scrimmage in practice against the JV, but it’s nothing like facing another varsity team. We’ve got some hitting we need to work on, and we had some errors here and there, but like I just them, that’s to be expected.
“I admitted to them I was nervous before I got here today. Now we’ve got one under our belt and we’re ready to play baseball. I’m excited for them, and hopefully against Triton on Friday we can show off a little bit.”
Senior Drew Hartman and sophomore Tucker Shull had two hits each for the Vikings, while junior Wes Melanson, sophomore Tanner Trippiedi and freshman Layne Prater had one hit each.
Warsaw junior Matt Shapiro was credited with the win on the mound. He gave up two hits and two runs in two innings of work, which also included two walks and two strikeouts.
Junior Ian Glogovsky pitched three innings for the Tigers, giving up three hits, one run and striking out three.
Juniors Drake Graham and Mason Reber, and sophomore Noah Burgh combined to throw the final two innings for Warsaw, with Burgh credited with the save.
Junior southpaw Lucas Walters started on the mound for Valley and was charged with the loss. Walters gave up six runs, five hits and six walks in 2-2/3 innings, but did strike out five.
Senior Jack Utter and Hartman came on in relief.
WARSAW 9, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 6
TV 020 010 3 – 6 7 2
W 213 201 X – 9 10 3
Valley – Lucas Walters (L, 2.2IP, 5H, 6R, 6BB, 5K), Jack Utter (2.2IP, 4H, 3R, 4BB, 2K), Drew Hartman (.2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K).
Warsaw – Matt Shapiro (W, 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2BB, 2K), Ian Glogovsky (3IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 3K), Drake Graham (1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K), Mason Reber (.1IP, 2H, 3R, 2BB, 0K), Noah Burgh (.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K).
2B – Jared Hawley (W), Michael Nunez (W), Brendan Perry (W)
Records: T. Valley 0-1, Warsaw 1-0
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