Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
On the gridiron or the baseball diamond, Plymouth senior Bill Miller has delivered some big hits against Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw.
Monday afternoon Tiger baseball coach Will Shepherd tried to avoid Miller's next big hit, intentionally walking the tall right hander in the top of the fifth inning with no outs, runners on second and third, and Warsaw leading 2-1, to get to Andrew Renz.
Renz made the most of the opportunity as he belted a first-pitch single off Mark Sherman that scored Kyle Benge and Matt Haug and was instrumental in the Pilgrims' 8-4 victory over the host Tigers.
"Miller put some big hits on us from his free safety position in the fall," said Shepherd. "I didn't see many people that wanted a part of him, and I didn't see many people stepping up today. Both Haug and Miller are athletic, they're studs for Plymouth. We took a chance and put him on first and loaded the bases, that put the force play in order. The next guy stepped up for them and got the job done."
Benge started the fifth inning by reaching first on an error, and then Haug laced a double before Miller got his free pass, setting up Renz's blast that ultimately led the Pilgrims to their fourth win of the season and ended Sherman's day on the mound.
When all was said and done in the fifth inning, Plymouth turned a 2-1 deficit into a 7-2 advantage, scoring six runs on five hits in the frame.
The win improved Plymouth to 4-14 overall, 3-7 in the NLC, and avenged an earlier loss to the Tigers at Bill Nixon Field. Warsaw fell to 10-9 on the season, 4-5 in the NLC.
The Tigers have now lost five straight in conference play and eight of nine games overall since starting the season 9-2.
"Plymouth is also struggling, they're a young team," said Shepherd. "Coach Plothow is frustrated like I am, but to their credit they found a way to win. Miller made a couple mistakes, but he's got passion. I saw him do some things to us in the fall and nobody wanted anything to do with him then. I didn't see a lot of kids stepping up tonight to get a piece of him."
Miller, who went 1 for 3 at the plate with a run scored, went the distance on the mound for Plymouth, improving his record to 2-0.
In seven innings of work, Miller scattered 11 hits, struck out seven and walked one while throwing 115 pitches.
Warsaw's two biggest hits off the hard-throwing senior were a two-run homer by catcher Tyler Stouder in the second inning to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead, and a two-run homer by centerfielder Brandon LaFollette in the fifth to cut the lead to 7-4.
While Warsaw has shown its strength for hitting the ball out of the park this year, Monday the Tigers couldn't handle it when it was hit to them, committing five fielding errors while Plymouth was charged with just one error.
"We're struggling," said Shepherd. "We're not the most aggressive team right now, and we're making mistakes. I didn't think we were as aggressive as we needed to be. We struggled."
Sherman took the loss on the mound for Warsaw, dropping his pitching record to 3-3. In four innings of work he gave up five hits, five runs and two walks and struck out three.
LaFollette took the hill in the fifth and gave up five hits, three runs and one walk while striking out three.
Senior short stop Sean Alderfer led Warsaw at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a run scored. Classmate Hans Griepentrog was 2 for 4, while the rest of the team combined for six hits.
Haug had two doubles for Plymouth, while Renz and Michael Brown had two hits each.
Warsaw travels to NLC foe NorthWood Wednesday, followed by a conference battle at Northridge Friday.
PLYMOUTH 8, WARSAW 4
Plymouth AB R H RBI
Manson cf 5 0 1 1
Benge ss 4 1 0 0
Haug c 3 3 2 0
Miller p 3 1 1 0
Renz lf 4 1 2 2
Lockwood 3b 3 0 0 1
Brown 1b 4 1 2 1
Bernero dh 4 1 1 1
Engle 2b 4 0 1 0
Hellinga rf 0 0 0 0
Totals 34 8 10 6
Warsaw AB R H RBI
Cox lf 4 0 1 0
Griepentrog rf 4 0 2 0
Alderfer ss 3 1 3 0
LaFollette cf 4 1 1 2
Sherman p 4 0 0 0
Freds 3b 3 1 1 0
Williams 1b 4 0 1 0
Conrad 2b 2 0 1 0
Stouder c 3 1 1 2
Revere 1 0 0 0
Totals 32 4 11 4
Plymouth (4-13, 3-7) 001 061 0 - 8 10 1
Warsaw (10-9, 4-5) 020 020 0 - 4 11 5
2B - Haug (2), Engle. HR - Stouder, LaFollette.
IP H R BB SO
Plymouth
Miller (W, 2-0) 7 11 4 1 7
Warsaw
Sherman (L, 3-3) 4 5 5 2 3
LaFollette (5) 3 5 3 1 1
