SYRACUSE – Other than the fifth inning, Joey Hickerson and the Warsaw Tigers had little trouble with rival Wawasee Monday afternoon. In the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both high school baseball teams, Hickerson, a senior, got the win on the mound and also had three hits as Warsaw beat the host Warriors 6-4 on a cold and windy evening in Syracuse. “Beating Wawasee is always a good thing,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler. “Starting 1-0 in the conference is always a good thing.” En route to their first overall win of the season, the Tigers (1-4) scored one run in the first inning, one in fourth, two in the top of the fifth and two more in the sixth. The Warriors, now 3-6 overall and 0-1 in the NLC, scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make things interesting. “That’s just been what we do,” said Wawasee coach John Blunk. “We get down and then we come back. We’ve got to be able to play seven innings. We’ve got talent, we just have to learn how to win.” In 4-2/3 innings of work on the mound, Hickerson gave up three hits, three runs, three walks and struck out eight. Two of the three walks he issued came in the fifth inning. Hickerson, however, made up for it with a two-RBI single in the sixth inning that gave the Tigers some breathing room and a 6-3 advantage. “That was a big hit,” Hepler said of Hickerson’s single. “He came through with a couple of RBIs when we needed them. That’s good senior leadership.” Junior Austin Moore replaced Hickerson on the mound with two outs in fifth inning. He faced two batters to record the last out of the frame, as he walked Dylan Wallace and struck out Cody Thomas. In 2-1/3 innings, Moore gave up just two hits and one run. He struck out two and walked four. The Tigers, who committed three errors in the field, pounded out 11 hits in the win, led by Hickerson’s three and two each from Austin Franzen, Riley Reinholt and Aaron Christenberry. Christenberry had Warsaw’s only extra-base hit of the game, a double in the seventh inning. Wawasee made two errors in the game and was credited with five hits. Jordan Schmitt, John Beer, Aaron Beer, Houston Rhodes and Nate Schwartz had one hit each for the Warriors. Schwartz had Wawasee’s only extra-base hit, a double in the seventh inning that allowed Si Shear to score and cut Warsaw’s advantage to 6-4 with two outs. “We only got one hit out of our top three hitters, you can’t win that way,” said Blunk. Junior Joe Fleagle went the distance and took the pitching loss for Wawasee. He struck out one and didn’t issue a walk, while giving up 11 hits and six runs. Both Warsaw and Wawasee are in action again Wednesday, with the Tigers hosting Goshen and the Warriors entertaining Elkhart Memorial.
