Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - If a tournament's most valuable player is selected at the end of the baseball sectional at Wawasee High School, Angola pitcher Ray Sterling probably got a few votes Monday afternoon.
All Sterling did in six innings of work was strike out eight and give up three hits while picking up his ninth win of the season.
And that was just on the mound.
At the plate he was 1 for 2 with his single hit, a second-inning grand slam and 12th home run of the year, pushing Angola's advantage to 7-0 before his team went on to win 9-3 in seven innings ending Wawasee's season at 7-20. The Hornets improved to an even .500 at 13-13 and will play Northridge Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Raiders advanced by ousting West Noble 7-5 in the second game.
"He (Sterling) is just a stud," said Angola coach Scott Johnson. "Him and (Justin) Libey are just studs. Everyone knows they don't flaunt. If you look at them, they play the game the way it's supposed to be played. Of our 13 wins Ray has nine and Justin has four."
Sterling is looking at playing college baseball next year for either Purdue or Toledo. Libey, who hit a solo home run over the left-field fence seconds after Sterling cleared the bases, plans on playing at Manchester College.
While the Hornets pounded out eight hits to account for their nine runs, the Warriors put just three across on five hits.
"We left runners on base all year," said Wawasee coach John Blunk. "We hit the ball today. We knew what to do, we just didn't get it done. I'm proud of the kids for battling back."
The Warriors scored their first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning when John Shock walked and later scored. Wawasee scored its final two runs of the game, and season, in the seventh when Shock again walked and later scored to cut Angola's lead to 9-2. After Brent Doty flew out to center field and Matt Coy popped out to first, Brent Berkeypile sent a double, his second of the game, to right field, scoring John Szynal.
Lakeland and NorthWood will square off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by the Angola/Northridge game.
"There's no pressure on us," said Johnson. "We're not supposed to win this. If we can pitch, hit and do the little things to play good baseball, we're going to be successful more often than not."
ANGOLA 9, WAWASEE 3
Wawasee (7-20) ab r h rbi
Coy 2b 3 0 0 1
Berkeypile cf 3 0 2 1
Baker 1b 3 0 0 0
May ss 2 0 1 0
Gradle lf 3 0 0 0
Adkins 3b 3 0 0 0
Shock cf 0 2 0 0
Szynal c 3 1 2 0
Doty dh 2 0 0 1
Totals 22 3 5 3
Angola (13-13) ab r h rbi
Dygert ss 4 0 1 1
Martin rf 4 0 0 0
Sterling p 2 1 1 4
Libey 2b 4 1 2 1
Vanover 1b 4 1 1 0
Deller dh 1 1 0 0
Hall 3b 3 1 2 0
Beckman cf 3 2 1 1
Nilson c 1 0 0 0
Totals 26 9 8 7
Wawasee 000 010 2 - 3 5 3
Angola 081 000 x - 9 8 0
2B -Berkeypille (2), Szynal, Vanover, Hall
HR - Libey, Sterling (GS)
Wawasee pitching - Bell, Adkins (2), Gradle (4)
Angola pitching - Sterling, Martin (7)
