Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
For the few fans that trickled into Tuesday night's Warsaw/South Bend St. Joe baseball game during the latter stages of the third inning, the scoreboard may have been a little deceiving.
At the end of the third inning the scoreboard displayed a zero in the home team slot and showed the visitors as having one run. That was correct to an extent. But in reality, the scoreboard at Warsaw Community High School doesn't record runs higher than 19.
The Tigers were up 20-1 at that point and went on to win 21-3 in five innings to improve their season record to 2-1. The win also gave the Tigers a 1-0 record on their home turf with three more home games yet this week.
"We had some kids who had a really good day," said Warsaw coach Will Shepherd, "but that's a quality team over there. They were beaten by Penn, last year's state champion, by one. They're like us - they start out the season with a strong schedule."
And, yes, Warsaw did have some kids who had a really good day.
Junior catcher Steve Siebenmorgen finished the day 3 for 3 at the plate with two singles, a grand slam and six RBIs. He also scored twice and stole home. Senior Jason Barrett was also perfect at the plate, going 4 for 4 with three singles and a double. Barrett also scored four times and tallied three RBIs. As a team, the Tigers were 20 for 30 at the plate. The Indians, who were only 6 of 22 at the plate, were led by Jason Short's 2-for-2 batting performance with a single and a double. He had one RBI, scored one run and stole one base.
Siebenmorgen's grand slam came in the first inning with the Tigers holding an 8-0 lead. He took the first pitch from Brandon Anderson 320 feet to left field, extending the Warsaw lead to 12. It was also Siebenmorgen's second hit of the innning. He had a single in his first at bat as Warsaw nearly batted around twice in the opening inning.
At the start of the game the potential for multiple home runs was there with the center field flags standing at attention but Warsaw had the only hit more than a double.
"In general we just hit the ball better," said Shepherd. "It (wind) didn't matter that much. We had a lot of guys who had quality at bats and that's what I teach."
As happy as the Warsaw skipper was with his team's offense he was just as happy with the defense. The Tigers only commited two fielding errors and only allowed six Indian hits. Much of that credit goes to sophomore left-hander Adam Augustine who picked up the win. St. Joe's Brian Lawler was the losing pitcher.
"We've got a lot of returning kids on this team," said Shepherd. "A big key will be our sophomore pitcher who was sick and didn't play in our team scrimmage. I was interested in how he would compete because he's never pitched against a varsity lineup. I was pleased with his outing but he got a stiff back. We took him out and Zach (Nelson) did an outstanding job of throwing strikes. We have three good starters (pitching) but we need some relievers."
Warsaw (2-1) will host Wabash at 2 p.m. Thursday.
"We're off to a decent start," said Shepherd. "You can say should've, could've, would've but we blew a game with Lafayette Jeff. I challenged the kids to respond every time out. We have leadership with multi-sport kids. If we get their leadership we'll have a good year. If this team can learn that defense is the name of the game we'll have fun this year."
