SYRACUSE - A day after losing at home to Wawasee, the Warsaw Tigers returned the favor in Syracuse.
Posting a convincing 7-1 Northern Lakes Conference road win over the Wawasee Warriors (10-5-1) Thursday, the Class 4A No. 8 Tigers (14-3) rebounded from a 4-1 loss the previous day in Warsaw."It was good to get some momentum back," Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said.
"We just needed this win to get our confidence back," he added. "We got a little shaky with the win Monday over (Elkhart) Memorial, 3-2. Then to lose the way we did, 4-1 (Wednesday at home to Wawasee)."
The win keeps Warsaw a game ahead of Memorial and Concord in the NLC with a 6-2 record.
On the other side, a victory by Wawasee could have put the Warriors in a four-way tie for the conference lead. Instead, the Warriors now sit at 4-4 in the conference.
"This is a game that - I don't want to say we were due for, but we've been in every game in the conference," Wawasee coach John Blunk said.
In Wawasee's previous three conference losses, each was by a run, but when Warsaw scored three in the first inning, this conference game looked to have a different inning.
"That got us off to a good start," Hepler said about the early runs.
Helping score those three runs were a two-run double by junior James Miglin and an RBI-single by senior Chase Byerly.
Making the inning even tougher for Wawasee was the fact that starting senior pitcher José Rodriguez began the inning by striking out the leadoff batter, then got senior Jacob Bloom to ground out, but an error put him on base.
"The error in the first, that hurt," Blunk said.
Spotting Warsaw junior pitcher Josh Witt three runs was much more than he needed, as he pitched six innings and gave up zero earned runs, six hits and struck out eight.
"Josh did a nice job pitching today," Hepler said of Witt, who improved his pitching record to 6-0. "He had a couple innings where he got himself into some jams, but it was good to see him get through it. When he pitched at Valparaiso last Saturday, he had a little arm trouble. So, it was good to give him an extra day to get his rhythm back. He was looking pretty good today."
Witt was looking good, but when a call went against the Tigers in the bottom of the third, he got more than a little agitated, as the Warsaw-Wawasee rivalry began to show its teeth.
With two outs, and freshman Si Shear at second and Rodriguez at first, a grounder by sophomore Josh Dingeldein was hit to Byerly, who made a throw to Warsaw first baseman Josh Miller. During the bang-bang play at first, Dingeldein was originally called out, but after the Tigers left the field, the umpires got together, and reversed the call, saying Miller was off the base.
"It's one of those things that happen," Hepler said. "We talked yesterday about not letting the umpires get inside your head."
After Warsaw had returned to the field, Witt struck out sophomore Jeremy Sorensen, resulting in Witt screaming, "We'll get four outs! If they want us to get four outs, we'll get four outs!"
Following the out, the first two Tigers were hit by Rodriguez, before Bloom came up with a two-run triple, increasing the Warsaw lead to 6-1 in the fourth.
Witt then came to the plate, and after striking out on a 3-2 dropped third strike, was tagged out, but still went to first thinking he'd been walked. After being informed he'd been struck out, he gave the home-plate umpire a not-too-friendly stare.
Following the Witt out, Miglin scored Bloom on a fly out, and Miller reached on a single, prompting Blunk to bring in senior reliever Hayden Shock.
During the pitching change, Hepler had time to walk to the Warsaw dugout in order to settle his pitcher down.
"I just went over to calm him down," Hepler said of his pitcher, who's pitched 38 innings, striking out 59, giving up 36 hits and carrying a 1.65 ERA this year. "I said, 'I'm feeling exactly what you're feeling. What we need for you to do is, go out and have your poise and keep your composure. That's how you're going to help the team the most.'"
The talk must have worked, as Witt came back out in the fifth, retiring six-straight Warriors, four via strike outs, before Miller took over on the mound to get the final three outs of the game.
At the plate, Bloom continued his impressive season, going 2 for 3 with a triple, double, three RBIs, two runs and a stolen base.
"He's really improved a lot," Hepler said of Bloom, who's hitting .452 with nine doubles, four triples, three home runs, 22 runs and 20 RBIs this year. "He's taking it very seriously. He's, by far, our best hitter on the team right now. He didn't get any hits yesterday, and I think he felt bad about that. That happens. You can come back another day, and good things happen."
As well as Bloom did, even he couldn't get a hit off Shock, who pitched 3-1/3 innings, striking out four and not giving up a hit.
"Hayden came in and did really well," Blunk said.
By even earning a split with the eighth-ranked Tigers, Wawasee can take some positives out of the two-game series, and Hepler only had praise for the squad from Syracuse.
"They will do a lot of damage later in the year, in the conference as well as their tournament," Hepler said. "They have good hitters, and obviously, good pitchers. They're a good ballclub."
Both teams are back in NLC play tonight at 5 p.m., with Warsaw travelling to Goshen and Wawasee visiting Elkhart Memorial.
