OSCEOLA – Warsaw wrapped up its 2018 high school baseball season Thursday.
But not before the Tigers stood toe-to-toe with No. 10-ranked Penn in the early innings of the IHSAA Class 4A sectional at Penn High School.
Warsaw (7-17) trailed the Kingsmen (25-4) 1-0 through four innings before bowing 5-0.
The sectional semifinals on Saturday will pit Elkhart Memorial against Northridge at 10 a.m., followed by Elkhart Central (a 4-2 winner against Goshen in Thursday’s first game) against Penn.
“I loved their effort. They gave it everything they had,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler of his players, who had lost 14-1 to Penn in the May 19 Tiger Invitational. “It’s a very talented Penn team, obviously, and our kids hung right in there.”
Penn scored its first run in the bottom of the first inning as Nate Vargo hit a lead-off double to left field and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Ryan Lynch.
Warsaw right-hander Cade Bowers retired the Kingsmen in order in the second and tossed scoreless frames in the third and fourth.
Penn scored three times in the fifth with a Brock Boyton solo home run to right, a Warsaw error and a Marshall Furner sacrifice fly accounting for the runs.
Tigers left fielder Kyle Kuhn caught a hard-struck ball off Vargo’s bat against the fence for the first out in the fifth. On the sacrifice fly, Warsaw right fielder Michael Nunez made a diving catch near the foul line.
The Kingsmen got the other run in the fifth when Hayden Berg beat out an infield hit and later scored on a single to center by Ryan Lynch.
Boynton, Lynch and Payton Kerr had two hits each and Vargo (double), Berg, Payton Kerr, Nate Lovisa and Hayden Berg one apiece for Penn.
Right-hander Ian Glogovsky relieved Bowers with two outs in the sixth and fanned the only batter he faced.
“We just didn’t have enough offensively tonight,” said Hepler, who saw his team collect two singles – both by Liam Patton – against left-hander Kameron Koch.
“Koch kept us off-balance,” said Hepler. “He was commanding the (strike) zone. In some tough spots, he competed really hard.
“I felt really good about our guys trying to battle him, but he matched it.”
Right-hander Kegan Hoskins pitched the seventh for the Kingsmen and after hitting the first batter – Patton – saw his defense turn a double play.
Kingsmen second baseman Berg snagged a liner from Nunez and flipped to first baseman Jeff Pawlik to double up the runner.
A come-backer to Hoskins and throw to Pawlik ended the game and the Tigers’ season.
“We had a couple good infield plays, but they beat them out,” said Hepler. “They’re fast. That’s who they are. They’re good players.”
Hepler said his players did not hang their heads despite a tough regular season.
“We had two really good days of practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and we were ready,” said Hepler. “We competed hard.
“I told the players, ‘There’s nothing to hang your head about. You tried your best. It didn’t work out today.’
“It was a little bit like the season for us. We were in a lot of games. We didn’t have those horrible types of games. We just couldn’t do a lot offensively. That’s where we have to improve for next year to compete.”
There were six seniors on the Tigers’ sectional roster – Kuhn, Nunez, Matt Francis, Jared Hawley, Brendan Perry and Matt Shapiro.
