ELKHART — Despite 24 runs being scored, it was a pitcher that was the hero for the Warsaw baseball team Thursday. Taking on the Goshen Redskins (10-19) in first-round action of Class 4A Sectional 4, the Warsaw Tigers (11-17) prevailed 13-11 in a game that went deep into the night. Next up for Warsaw is a Monday morning matchup at 9 a.m. with Concord, which defeated Northridge 11-1 in Thursday’s opening game. A berth in Monday’s semifinals seemed relatively tough to accomplish for Warsaw, which entered the postseason on an eight-game skid. But with expectations running low, the Tigers roughed up Goshen junior pitcher Sylas Buller for two runs in the first inning, leaving the bases loaded. Warsaw picked up where it left off in the second, scoring another five, highlighted by a three-run double by senior Kyle Morris, to increase its lead to 7-0. Goshen came back to score three in the bottom of the second, but in the top of the third, Warsaw senior Brock Anson belted a grand slam to put the Tigers on top 11-3. “We had some timely hitting today,” Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said. “That was huge for us. We hadn’t been getting that the last two weeks. That was something that was really nice.” Along with being nice, it was also a bit surprising as the Tigers entered the sectional averaging just 2.8 runs per game. “I was taken aback a little bit myself,” Hepler said about his team’s offensive explosion. “We tried to bunt the ball quite a bit early, just trying to generate something. Things began to get nutty and they began throwing it around, forgetting to cover some bases. I thought, maybe this is what we need to get a little momentum. It worked.” But even leading 11-3, Warsaw’s pitching has struggled and Hepler wasn’t breaking out any victory cigars. “I’ve played them long enough to know we’d have to battle for everything,” Hepler said. And Goshen certainly made the Tigers battle. Trailing 11-5 in the bottom of the fifth, Goshen took advantage of senior relief pitcher Garrett Gruenewald, greeting him with four straight singles, followed by an RBI-flyout and another single. With three runs already plated, senior Austin Franzen entered the game, walking in a run and giving up an RBI-single, cutting Tigers’ lead to 11-10. On the verge of blowing things open, Goshen had the bases loaded and just one out, but Franzen got it together, striking out the next two Redskins. “I didn’t have anyone else ready at the moment,” Hepler said. “I thought, ‘OK, we’re going to see what happens here, and we’ll just go with it.’ Fortunately, he got them out.” And fortunately Hepler stuck with Franzen. After getting out of that jam, Franzen went the rest of the way, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. “I didn’t want to go to him as fast as I did, but I felt like I had to,” Hepler said. “He settled in nicely once he got going.” Things did get dicey in the bottom of the seventh, with Warsaw on top 13-10 and Franzen posting two quick outs. Just one out away from the win, Franzen gave up three-straight walks and saw a run score on a wild pitch. With the tying run standing at second, he then induced a pop out, getting his team the win. “I knew he was getting tired, but he just kind of pitched on guts and he got the job done for us,” Hepler said. At the plate, Hepler had plenty of guys getting it done. Batting leadoff, junior Jason Ferguson went 3 for 3 with a double and three runs scored, Anson finished 3 for 4 with five RBIs and the grand slam, Kyle Morris was 3 for 5 with four RBIs and his double and Franzen finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a double. “We hit the ball well today,” Hepler said. “Hopefully, we can continue that Monday.” And the Tigers will need to. In their last meeting with Concord, the Tigers fell 20-4 at home, giving up 13 runs in the fifth inning. “In that game, we were fighting ourselves more than anything else,” Hepler said. “I feel like our team has a new lease on life. Nothing felt better than ending the season and clearing the record and starting over, so to speak.”
