Tiger Baseball Blanks Tippecanoe Valley For First Win Of Season
April 11, 2019 at 2:13 a.m.
Tiger Baseball Blanks Tippecanoe Valley For First Win Of Season
By Lachlan Lennox-
The Vikings dropped to 2-2 with the home loss.
Warsaw senior ace Drake Graham earned his first win of the season in dominant fashion. Graham pitched for a complete game shutout in his second start of the year. Graham struck out thirteen Viking batters, walked five, and allowed only one hit in seven innings. He also delivered on the offensive end, scoring two of Warsaw’s four runs and driving in another with a right-field grounder in the 4th.
Graham cited the coaching he received this year as a key reason for his performance.
“We didn’t do anything special tonight, it’s all thanks to the work we put in during the offseason,” the Taylor University commit remarked after the game. Despite the impressive performance, he knows the team could still improve in some areas. “You can never be too good at the small things. We played great today, but we know we have to come back and compete every night.”
Warsaw’s offensive game complemented their defense nicely. After a scoreless first two innings, Junior Noah Burgh drove in the first Graham run to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the third. The fourth inning saw the most offense of the game, as Graham, senior Liam Patton, and junior Jacob Hutchinson all scored runs for the Tigers. Leftfielder Josh Erlinger also got on base and recorded an RBI in the inning.
Tippecanoe Valley, while holding strong defensively most of the game, was plagued by offensive inconsistency. Senior Wes Melanson was the only Viking to record a hit, doing so in the first inning. After his ground ball single, Graham struck out eight of the next thirteen batters, with only one walk between the second and sixth innings.
Despite struggling on offense, the Vikings managed to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh after three Graham walks. Despite Graham’s fatigue, Coach Andy Manes trusted his starter, who rewarded him with his thirteenth strikeout and the win.
Vikings starter Lucas Walters played four innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs. Walters started strong, recording two strikeouts in the first two innings. However, a rough 4th frame saw the Tigers score three runs, including one after a Walters wild pitch. Freshman Braxton Davis got the reigns in the 5th, and Freshman Owen Kirchenstein took the mound in the 6th. Kirchenstein threw two strikeouts and did not allow a Tigers’ hit in the final two innings of the game.
With the win, Warsaw earned its first win of the Andy Manes era. Manes, a former Grace College slugger, is attempting to fill the shoes of longtime Tiger coach Mike Hepler. With his first win, he has certainly taken a key step in doing just that.
This is Warsaw’s first game of a three-day stretch. They will host Huntington North at 5 p.m. today.
Tippecanoe Valley will attempt to rebound Saturday at Bremen.
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The Vikings dropped to 2-2 with the home loss.
Warsaw senior ace Drake Graham earned his first win of the season in dominant fashion. Graham pitched for a complete game shutout in his second start of the year. Graham struck out thirteen Viking batters, walked five, and allowed only one hit in seven innings. He also delivered on the offensive end, scoring two of Warsaw’s four runs and driving in another with a right-field grounder in the 4th.
Graham cited the coaching he received this year as a key reason for his performance.
“We didn’t do anything special tonight, it’s all thanks to the work we put in during the offseason,” the Taylor University commit remarked after the game. Despite the impressive performance, he knows the team could still improve in some areas. “You can never be too good at the small things. We played great today, but we know we have to come back and compete every night.”
Warsaw’s offensive game complemented their defense nicely. After a scoreless first two innings, Junior Noah Burgh drove in the first Graham run to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the third. The fourth inning saw the most offense of the game, as Graham, senior Liam Patton, and junior Jacob Hutchinson all scored runs for the Tigers. Leftfielder Josh Erlinger also got on base and recorded an RBI in the inning.
Tippecanoe Valley, while holding strong defensively most of the game, was plagued by offensive inconsistency. Senior Wes Melanson was the only Viking to record a hit, doing so in the first inning. After his ground ball single, Graham struck out eight of the next thirteen batters, with only one walk between the second and sixth innings.
Despite struggling on offense, the Vikings managed to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh after three Graham walks. Despite Graham’s fatigue, Coach Andy Manes trusted his starter, who rewarded him with his thirteenth strikeout and the win.
Vikings starter Lucas Walters played four innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs. Walters started strong, recording two strikeouts in the first two innings. However, a rough 4th frame saw the Tigers score three runs, including one after a Walters wild pitch. Freshman Braxton Davis got the reigns in the 5th, and Freshman Owen Kirchenstein took the mound in the 6th. Kirchenstein threw two strikeouts and did not allow a Tigers’ hit in the final two innings of the game.
With the win, Warsaw earned its first win of the Andy Manes era. Manes, a former Grace College slugger, is attempting to fill the shoes of longtime Tiger coach Mike Hepler. With his first win, he has certainly taken a key step in doing just that.
This is Warsaw’s first game of a three-day stretch. They will host Huntington North at 5 p.m. today.
Tippecanoe Valley will attempt to rebound Saturday at Bremen.
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