With two wins over Northridge in the regular season already under their belt, the Northern Lakes Conference champions Warsaw Tigers needed to get a third one on Thursday night to keep their season alive in the first round of the IHSAA 4A baseball sectional at Penn High School. The Tigers were unable to get much going offensively, falling in the first round of the playoffs, 7-0 to the Raiders.
Northridge would strike first, bringing a run in during their first trip to the plate. Raider pitcher JT Tabor hit a line drive into the right field gap, getting all the way to third base for a one-out triple. He’d wind up scoring a batter later on an RBI groundout to third by Collin Yoder. Warsaw starter Zac Miller would avoid any more damage, sending the Tiger bats up the plate for the first time trailing by one. Tabor continued his big first inning on the mound, retiring the Warsaw hitters in order to send things to the second.
Miller found himself in trouble once again here, falling victim to a tight strike zone and giving up three straight walks to load the bases with one out. His defense would bail him out though, as a ground ball to Quinton Brock was thrown home to catcher Cohen Heady and over to first to Hunter Dippon for a crucial 5-2-3 double play to keep Northridge from scoring.
The Tigers put their first runner on base in the bottom of the second in the form of a walk to Cohen Heady, but his pinch runner, Logan Kim was picked off at first base for the first out of the inning. The next two hitters were retired as well, and Tabor had faced the minimum through two.
After getting the first two outs in the top of the third, Miller once again had to battle, as a single and a walk drawn by the Raiders put two men on with two outs, and a double steal put both in scoring position. But Miller was able to finish the job, picking up his second strikeout of the inning to retire the side. Wyatt Stapleton singled up the middle in the bottom of the third for Warsaw’s first hit of the game, but went no further, as the final out was made a batter later to keep the home team on the scoreboard scoreless.

    Warsaw junior Wyatt Stapleton connects for Warsaw's first of only two game hits during the third inning...Nieter

The top of the fourth inning was a huge one for the Raiders, as they extended their lead in a big way. After getting the first out, Miller hit two straight batters and gave up a double to Northridge leadoff hitter Max Horner to make it a 2-0 ball game. That would be it for Miller, as he was replaced by Reed Nelson, who didn’t have much more success. A double by Tabor brought in another run, which was followed up by a walk and a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded that brought in a third. With two men on and two outs, Kam Radeker crushed one to the left field fence to score both, making it a five-run inning and a 6-0 lead for Northridge.
The Tigers were unable to formulate an answer their next time up, going down in order to send the game to the fifth inning. Oliver Nisen became the third Warsaw pitcher to take the mound here, and he helped settle things down a bit by retiring the side without allowing a run to give his hitters another crack at Tabor.
Outside of an opposite-field double hit by senior Austin Polk, the Tiger offense was unable to get anything else going in the bottom of the fifth, stranding the designated hitter at second base. Nisen continued his solid work on the mound in the top of the sixth, working around a one-out walk to keep the Raiders off of the scoreboard.
With opportunities quickly running out, Warsaw continued to struggle to figure out Tabor at the plate. The Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, giving them just three more outs to make up the deficit.
The challenge became even more difficult in the top of the seventh, as a walk to Northridge’s Brecken Gawthrop followed by a pair of stolen bases, including a steal of home, added a seventh run to the Raiders lead. With one chance left at the plate, the Tigers had seven runs to make up to keep their season alive.
It would not materialize. Warsaw would go down in order for the fifth time in the game to end the season.
Warsaw will return next spring. Northridge will advance to take on Goshen Saturday morning in the sectional semifinal.