The conditions weren’t exactly pretty. And because of that, at times neither was the play. The outcome Monday evening, however, was beautiful for coach Mike Hepler and his Warsaw Community High School varsity baseball team. Hosting the Plymouth Pilgrims in a battle for the top spot in the Northern Lakes Conference, the Tigers overcame rain, chilly temperatures and darkness, as well as a rally by its rival, en route to a 9-8 win. With the victory, the Tigers improved to 10-6 overall and 8-2 in the NLC standings, while the Pilgrims, who lost 2-0 to Warsaw on April 22 in Plymouth, fell to 12-7 and 6-4. The NorthWood Panthers went into Monday’s home game with Wawasee at 6-3 in the NLC. That game was suspended in the fourth inning with NorthWood leading 2-0. Action will resume at 5 p.m. Thursday. “It’s a great place to be right now,” Hepler said of his team’s spot atop the NLC standings. “We can’t rest on it. We’re gonna enjoy it now and then come back and get ready to work (Tuesday) at practice and get ready for NorthWood on Wednesday.” Following Wednesday’s game at NorthWood, the Tigers will travel to Middlebury Friday to play NLC foe Northridge. In Monday’s game, Plymouth scored three times in the top of the first inning, and did so on just one hit, as Warsaw senior pitcher Zach Witt issued three walks and another Pilgrim batter reached on an error. In all, Warsaw’s pitching staff walked 10 batters in the game, and the team was charged with four errors. The Tigers, however, did enough to overcome that. Warsaw responded to Plymouth’s three-run start with four runs of its own in the bottom of the first, and then added two more in the second to take a 6-3 lead. After the Pilgrims scored once in the third inning, the Tigers pushed the advantage to 8-4 with a no-doubter of a home run over the left field wall by junior Henry Howard. A pair of runs by Plymouth in the fifth inning cut the deficit to two, 8-6, but the Tigers responded with a run in the bottom of the frame. The Pilgrims made things interesting with a two-run, two-out rally in the seventh, but as the Tigers had done with everything up to that point, they overcame it. “We got off to a little bit of a rough start, but the way we came out and swung the bat was really nice,” said Hepler. “Ten hits against a good Plymouth pitching staff, our guys swung the bat well. “I thought we played just good enough defense ... we had a couple errors, but we had some timely plays, a double play that really helped, and I credit our pitchers for really toughing it out. It was tough to pitch today. We did enough good things to come out with a win, and we’re feeling very fortunate.” Senior Marselo Rodriguez led Warsaw with three hits, including two doubles, while Howard and Witt had two hits each. Witt started the game on the mound and worked two innings. He gave up four runs, two earned, two hits and five walks. He struck out one. Senior Braxton Tennant was credited with the win after pitching the middle three innings, giving up three hits, three walks and two runs, only one of which was earned. Junior Isaac Lenon worked the last two innings on the mound for the Tigers. He gave up two hits, two walks and two runs, only one of which was earned. Plymouth senior southpaw Jeremy Splix was charged with the loss after giving up eight runs, seven of which were earned. He gave up nine hits and walked three in four innings. Sophomore Jeremy Drudge pitched the final two innings, giving up one hit, one run and two walks. The Pilgrims had seven hits in the loss. Junior Dyllon Pavey had two hits and was the only Plymouth player with multiple hits. Senior Caleb Mikesell had Plymouth’s only extra-base hit, a double.
