Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Look at the box score for Wednesday's Warsaw/Wawasee baseball game and one name in particular will stick out for Wawasee: Brent Berkeypile.
Berkeypile was the lone Warrior batter to get a hit off Warsaw sophomore Adam Augustine in Warsaw's 12-0 five-inning Northern Lakes Conference win Wednesday night at Tiger Field. The win pushes the Tigers' overall record to 11-3-1 and 6-0 in the NLC. The Warriors fall to 4-10 and 0-6.
According to Warsaw coach Will Shepherd, Augustine has only given up one run and five hits in his last 13 innings of work.
While the Warriors only tallied one hit, the Tigers, on the other hand, pounded out 14 hits on 25 at-bats. The Warriors only batted a total of 14 times.
Of Warsaw's 14 hits, it needed just one to top the Warriors last night: the one Zach Nelson sent some 360 feet to the tennis courts behnind left-center field. Leading off in the bottom of the second, the Warsaw junior's solo home run pushed the Tigers' advantage to 3-0. In the third, designated hitter John Leininger launched a two-run blast to the tennis courts giving Warsaw a healthy 6-0 lead. After the game Shepherd was asked about the liveliness of Warsaw's bats last night, was it the wind or just its power hitters showing their strenght?
"When you have kids like (Steve) Siebenmorgen, Leininger and Nelson, those kids work hard in the weight room," said Shepherd. "They still have to understand my focus is to hit the ball. But they are plenty strong enough."
Not only did Warsaw's bats come to life, so did its runners' legs. In the second inning Tiger senior Jason Barrett laced a single to center field, classmate Pat Riley scored from first base. In Barrett's next at bat, in the third inning, Riley stole home to give Warsaw its ninth run as Warrior pitcher Brian Adkins dealt one of his two walks. According to Shepherd, his team's running game was a major concern over the summer. It doesn't appear to be now.
"I was concerned in the offseason," said Shepherd. "I was worried we wouldn't have any runners except Pat but the kids of the bench can run the bases. Our running game is nice compared to what it has been, it's been a pleasant surprise."
In the top of the fifth Wawasee relief pitcher Ronnie Black was hit by a pitch giving the Warriors a base runner with one out. Right fielder John Shock laced a ground ball to the short stop and Wawasee was put out on its second 6-4-3 double-play of the game, and the Tigers were victorious.
Wawasee (4-10, 0-6) will be in action Friday at DeKalb for a 5 p.m. doubleheader. The Tigers, now 11-3-1 and 6-0 in the NLC, will travel to Goshen on Friday for a 4:30 p.m. game and turn around and host Fort Wayne Northrop Saturday at 11 a.m.
"I'm very pleased to be 6-0 in the conference," said Shepherd. "This team has worked hard to get where we're at and we'll have to keep proving it. We have a big on the road Friday at Goshen and then the No. 3 Northrop Bruins on Saturday. We play a good schedule, we can't afford to take any nights off.
