In the second matchup of the season between Warsaw and Concord, the Minutemen won 8-5 over the Tigers in high school baseball action Monday.
In the Northern Lakes Conference showdown, Warsaw (5-13, 3-10 NLC) was looking to sweep the season series, but a six-run sixth inning by Concord (4-12, 4-6 NLC) put an end to those thoughts.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and held that spread for three innings behind junior left-handed thrower Caden Bowers. Bowers was nearly perfect through three frames, allowing one hit and striking out two.
“Caden had good poise,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler. “I thought he mixed up his pitches well. They didn’t really hit the ball hard off of him, we just didn’t make good plays.”
Bowers allowed two runs to cross over the next two innings, but only one was earned.
Emotions ran high in the fifth inning for both squads. Warsaw had a nice string of events on defense to end the frame. There was a hard slide into home from Concord’s Jack Lietzan into Tiger junior Liam Patton.
Patton took a little time to collect his thoughts before firing to second base to get a Minuteman runner caught in a rundown and get the last out of the inning.
In the bottom of the stanza, Patton led off the inning for Warsaw. On the first pitch, junior Drew McDougle threw one high and inside that crossed Patton’s face. Immediately, the home-plate umpire warned both benches to calm the storm.
Hepler went to his bullpen in the sixth inning and their struggles continued from the relievers. Warsaw gave up six runs and used three pitchers to get three outs.
Junior Avery Remocaldo was the first one in from the bullpen and lasted five batters while getting one out. He allowed two hits and two walks. Junior Drake Graham came in next and faced three batters. In his effort, he hit the first batter and gave up a bases-clearing double to Concord’s next hitter.
Junior Royce Smith was able to come in after Graham and get the final two outs in the inning and finish the game for the Tigers.
For the Minutemen, McDougle pitched six strong innings and struck out six. The lefty faced seven batters in the first inning, but faced four or less batters on three occasions over the next five innings.
“McDougle’s a competitor,” said Hepler. “He did a nice job pitching to us today. We didn’t execute good at-bats and that’s what we needed to do better today.”
In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers didn’t go down quietly. After a leadoff single by senior Jared Hawley and two quick outs, Warsaw was able to score three runs to trim the deficit.
Hepler attributed to better energy by the team in the last inning that helped fuel the offense in the seventh.
“It took us two hours to wake up and decide that we really wanted to compete,” he said.
Senior Michael Nunez, Hawley and Patton led the team with two hits each. Hawley had a double for Warsaw’s only extra-base hit of the contest.
On Wednesday, the Tigers will host Elkhart Memorial for senior night at 5:30 p.m. Hepler is excited for the next opportunity to finish on a better note and wants to send the seniors out on good terms.
