Tigers Can't Overcome Grand SlamThe tide turned on the Warsaw baseball team at an unforeseen time Friday at home against Goshen. Leading 1-0, Warsaw senior pitcher Austin Moore got two quick outs, but then walked three straight Goshen Redskin batters. With the bases loaded, Goshen senior Warren Kay belted a grand slam over to the left-center field fence, changing the course of the game. The shot put Goshen up 4-1, and after that, they added another four in the fourth, going on to defeat the Warsaw Tigers 10-4 in Northern Lakes Conference action. “It was the walks in the third inning that really killed us,” Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said. “We had two outs and nobody on, but we walked three guys in a row and gave up the grand slam. You could just feel the momentum turn. That was a tough break for us and a tough break for Austin Moore, because he had been pitching really well.” In the loss, Hepler had to use four pitchers, who combined to walk nine Redskins. Along with the walks, the Redskins were also not being fooled at the dish, posting 10 hits. “I have to credit Goshen for swinging an aggressive bat today,” Hepler said. “They did a really nice job.” For Goshen, the win was its second NLC win of the week after getting off to a slow start. The first time through their NLC schedule, the Redskins went 0-7, but they downed Northridge, who had been unbeaten in conference play, 4-3 Wednesday. Despite their struggles, Goshen coach Hal Farm-wald had seen positives. “You hate to say 0-7 was deceiving, but we didn’t lose any games by more than two runs the first time through the conference,” Farmwald said. “We played everybody tough. We had lost 5-3 to Northridge and 2-1 to Warsaw. We were a couple plays away from having a whole different record.” Having won that 2-1 game in Goshen earlier this season, Hepler wasn’t taking the Redskins lightly. “I know they’re a good club,” Hepler said. “They’ve just had a little bit of a hard time hitting the ball lately, but they just beat Northridge and they just beat us. They’re legit.” Sometimes, when a team’s had some struggles, it can easily be discouraged, but the two-out rally in the third proved that’s not in this Goshen’s team DNA. “That’s kind of how they’ve been all year long,” Farmwald said about his guys. “They’ve battled, they haven’t lost faith. They’ve had a lot of opportunities to hang their heads, and they haven’t. They keep coming back out and working hard.” That mentality is one Hepler would like to see his team implement as it’s lost six of its last seven games. “We have to be mentally tough enough to overcome that,” he said about the grand slam. “That’s baseball. That stuff happens. People hit the ball and people score runs. We just have to be able to come back and get into the game. We didn’t do that.” The Tigers did get eight hits the game, with senior Brock Anson hitting a two-run homer and senior Kyle Morris leading off the fourth with a dinger. Moore also had an RBI-triple in the loss and senior Austin Franzen was 3 for 3 with two runs scores. However, Kay was the star of the game, going 3 for 3 with the four RBIs. Warsaw is back on the field today, hosting a doubleheader against Valparaiso at 11 a.m. “They’re very good and we’re going to have to be ready to compete a lot more than we were today,” Hepler said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a couple wins.”
