Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PLYMOUTH - Wawasee's trip to Plymouth Saturday had trouble at the beginning and the end.
A broken down team bus delayed Wawasee getting to its first-round matchup with the host Pilgrims. Once there, the Warriors looked to be in command with a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Plymouth, though, spoiled Wawasee's first trip to a regional since 1993 by scoring three runs in the frame and taking a 3-2 win at Bill Nixon Field, ending Wawasee's Cinderella run to the regional. The Pilgrims went on to win the regional title with a win over Wabash in the championship game.
The seventh started with Wawasee holding on to the 2-0 lead, but against a dangerous team like Plymouth, it never seems enough.
Nick Wise led off the frame with a walk and Andy Green followed with a single. A wild pitch from Wawasee starter Rod Holterman moved pinch runners Randy Heckaman and Jared Wakeland to second and third.
Matt Cramer then came up with the biggest hit of the game when he sliced a double into the gap between center and right field for a double, scoring two runs. Another wild pitch moved pinch runner Joe Binfet to third, and a Nick Chaney sacrifice fly to right field scored Binfet with the winning run.
"I knew it was going to take more than two runs to win this ball game," Wawasee coach John Blunk said. "We knew it would be a pitcher's battle.
"Plymouth came through when it counted," he said. "They are tough. We were the only one to give them a loss in the conference (in the regular season). We knew we had a shot at them, and we played the best baseball we could. There was nothing else we could do."
Before that final fateful inning, Holterman had the Pilgrims right where he wanted them. The Warrior ace had allowed just four hits and struck out six batters in shutting Plymouth out for six innings.
Wawasee knew coming into the game that it would need a good pitching performance and solid defense to even have a chance. The Warriors got both with Holterman's performance and no errors in the field.
"Rod pitched a fine game," Blunk said. "He gave up only six hits, pitched six innings of shutout baseball, and we played good defense."
The defense bailed Holterman out twice in the early going when the Warriors turned two double plays in the first two innings. The first came when first baseman Jesse Leonard snared a line drive by Chris Myers and doubled up Ryan Colvin, who had singled, at first. The second came after Wise had singled and Green hit a grounder to Luke Baker at third base. Baker threw to Matt Coy to force Wise at second, but Coy didn't get a throw off as Wise knocked the much-smaller Wawasee second baseman down. The umpire ruled that Wise went out of the baseline to get to Coy, and Green was ruled out at first base for the double play.
Wawasee staked itself to the 2-0 lead in the first inning without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of some shaky early Plymouth defense.
Plymouth starter Mike Layman, who had earlier this year thrown a one-hitter against Wawasee, walked Shawn Johnson to start the game. Rob Burke then ripped a ground ball that Plymouth shortstop Cramer couldn't handle to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Brad Swope then laid down a sacrifice bunt that Plymouth catcher Dan Winkle picked up and threw too late to third to get Johnson, loading the bases. Wawasee's next batter, Josh Mitchell, then struck out, but Winkle couldn't handle the pitch and Johnson scored on the passed ball. Jesse Leonard's ground out to Cramer then scored Burke.
"You have to take advantage of Mike early," Blunk said of the big Plymouth right-hander. "If you let him get into a groove, you can't do anything with him. If he is on in the first inning, we don't score any runs and lose 3-0 like we did last time when he threw a one-hitter against us. The kid throws good."
Layman settled down into that groove for Plymouth, allowing no hits until Mitchell singled in the sixth. Holterman had the only other hit off of Layman, a single in the seventh.
Wawasee had a chance in the third inning when Johnson picked up his second of three walks on the day. But Burke's sacrifice bunt attempt was too hard, and Layman threw Johnson out at second.
"We had a couple of opportunities where we should have scored another run or so early when we were hitting," Blunk said. "That score has haunted us for a long time. We won the sectional at 3-2, but the last time we were here (Plymouth), we lost to them by that score in eight innings. There were things we just didn't get done."
Wawasee ends the season with a school-best 18 wins (18-13), and the knowledge that it was the lone team to hand Plymouth a loss in Northern Lakes Conference play.
"We played great baseball all season," Blunk said. "I am very proud of these kids. We are going to build a program, and that is what we are here to do.
"Our kids battled,": he said. "Nobody expected us to be here earlier in the season and surprised a lot of people. We have nothing to be ashamed about. It was a classic Northern Lake Conference baseball game."
