Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
"We are like Chicken Little waiting for the sky to fall," said Warsaw baseball coach Will Shepherd. "In the last three games we have given up 19 runs in the seventh inning."
Five of those 19 runs came in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's Northern Lakes Conference game with Goshen. The Tigers and Redskins ended the game in a 5-5 tie after seven innings due to darkness.
Warsaw jumped out to an early lead after scoring runs in each of the first two innings.
But the fifth inning was the most successful for the Warsaw squad. Pitcher Michael Barger helped his own cause by starting the inning with a solo home run over the left-field fence.
Designated hitter Jacob Wilson followed Barger's homer with a single. Josh Stork reached first on an error by Goshen pitcher Nick VanderMolen, and a sacrifice by Geoff Walmer moved runners to second and third. William Knepper was hit by a pitch, and the bases were loaded.
Ryan DeGeeter and John Milton hit fielder's choices that led to errors to drive in two more runs for the Tigers, making the score 5-0.
However, that lead did not last.
Down 5-0 going into the top of the seventh inning, Goshen was not ready to give up. Matt Beckett started a Redskin rally by opening the seventh with a single. Errors by Warsaw allowed Erik Wolfe and Jeremiah Latham to reach base as well.
Then Nick VanderMolen, the pitcher for the first 1-1/3 innings, stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. He knocked the first pitch over the fence, and suddenly the Redskins were back in the game with a 5-4 score.
A one-out walk by Jeremy Miller put the tying run one first, and a passed ball moved him to second. A single by Josh Hile drove Miller home, and the score was knotted at 5-all.
Warsaw had one last chance to get the win in the bottom of the seventh. However, the Tigers went down 1-2-3, and the game was called due to darkness.
"We did a lot of things early that took us out of innings," said Shepherd. "Our base running was poor. Our mistakes in the seventh inning were big, but those earlier mistakes were just as big. We just got out of them."
Barger did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and pitched six innings with nine strikeouts, one walk and five hits and two earned runs
"Tonight Michael pitched well, but we let them back in the game in the seventh," said Shepherd.
Barger led the Tigers, going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Augustine went 2 for 2 with a run and an RBI, and Wilson was 2 for 3 with a run scored.
Goshen had five players with one hit.
Warsaw is 4-3-1 and 0-0-1 in NLC play, and the Tigers host Plymouth Friday in another NLC game.
WARSAW 5, GOSHEN 5
Goshen AB R H RBI
Hughes cf 3 0 1 0
Miller rf 2 1 0 0
Hile 2b 4 0 1 1
Zentz 1b 4 0 1 0
Allen ss 3 0 1 0
Meyers lf 2 0 0 0
Beckett p 1 1 1 0
Wolfe 3b 3 1 0 0
Latham c 3 1 0 0
Vandermolen p 3 1 1 4
Totals 28 5 6 5
Warsaw AB R H RBI
J. Milton ss 5 0 0 1
Augustine rf 2 1 2 1
N. Milton lf 3 0 1 0
Barger p 4 1 3 2
Stogsdill cf 0 0 0 0
Wilson dh 3 1 2 0
Stork c 2 1 0 0
Moore ph 1 0 1 0
Walmer 2b 2 0 0 0
Harris ph 1 0 0 0
Knepper 1b 3 0 0 0
DeGeeter 3b 3 1 0 1
Totals 29 5 9 5
Goshen 000 000 5 - 5 6 3
Warsaw 110 030 0 - 5 9 3
LOB -ÊGoshen 5, Warsaw 11. 2B -ÊHughes, Augustine. HR -ÊVanderMolen (GS), Barger. E -ÊBeckett, Allen, Wolfe, J. Milton (2), Walmer.
IP H R ER BB SO
Goshen
VanderMolen 1.2 3 2 2 2 1
Beckett 5.1 6 3 1 1 4
Warsaw
Barger 6 5 4 2 1 9
Polding .1 0 1 0 1 0
Augustine .2 1 0 0 0 0
Barger pitched to four batters in the seventh. Balk -ÊBeckett (2). HB - VanderMolen 2, Beckett 2, Barger 1.
