CRAWFORDSVILLE - The Warsaw Senior Baseball All-Stars don't necessarily find themselves in a do-or-die situation today, but it's close.
After losing 7-2 to the Seymour All-Stars in their first game at the Indiana state tournament Monday, a win over Anderson today at 2:30 p.m. is almost a necessity if they hope to qualify for Thursday's semifinals at Southmont High School in Crawfordsville.In pool play, the top two teams out of Pool B, which includes Warsaw, Seymour, Anderson and Jeffersonville, advance to the semifinals, where they'll face the top two teams out of Pool A. If two teams share an identical record at the end of pool play, which runs until Wednesday, a tiebreaker is determined by runs scored.
By losing the opening game, the Warsaw squad finds itself behind the proverbial eight-ball.
"It just wasn't there today," Warsaw coach Art Gosnell said. "I think we had four hits, and three of those were in the first inning. Against this kind of competition, you can't do that. We're gonna have to score runs, and we're gonna have to get hits."
Facing the biggest guy on the field in the form of Seymour's left-handed pitcher Connor Kirtley, Warsaw took it's lumps.
Following back-to-back hits by Warsaw's Darin Lursen and Steven Straits, Kirtley only gave up two more hits the rest of the game, one of those coming off the bat of Jeremy Sorenson in the first.
"Throw that first pitch for a strike, and you have the advantage," Gosnell said of Kirtley. "He was doing what he was supposed to do. He's a big boy, a good pitcher. We're gonna see that here. We just have to play better baseball."
Thanks to the first-inning hits, Warsaw did grab a quick 1-0 lead when Straits appeared to be picked off at first, but found a way to elude a tag, resulting in a stolen base at second. While Straits had the Seymour defense trying to run him down, Lursen took off from third, giving Warsaw the lead - albeit a short-lived one.
In the top of the second, Seymour got things started with back-to-back singles from Zach Trotter and Dusty Staggs. Following a strikeout by Warsaw starting pitcher Phillip Fleagle, David Montgomery drew a walk, loading the bases with one out. Fleagle was able to get the second out of the inning on a groundout, although it did drive home a run. With the score knotted at 1-1 with two outs, Seymour benefited from two wild pitches, scoring on each, taking a 3-1 lead by the time the third out was recorded.
After losing the lead, Warsaw got right back into it, with Eric Smolen coming around to score after drawing a lead-off walk. Following two wild pitches and an RBI-groundout by Riley Reinholt, Warsaw was within 3-2.
The Warsaw offense looked to still be in the game, but after the second inning, it completely spurted out, as Kirtley found his groove, letting his defense do the work by forcing 10 groundball outs.
Seymour had the luxury of riding a pitcher throughout the entire game, but while attempting to conserve pitchers, Warsaw went through four, including Fleagle, Straits, Brock Anson and Travis Shipp.
"We were trying to be able to save some guys for Wednesday," Gosnell said.
Prior to Wednesday's game, Warsaw must focus all of its attention on Anderson Tuesday. A second loss would almost eliminate the team from Kosciusko County without receiving a lot of help.
"We have to win (Tuesday) and we have to win Wednesday," Gosnell said. "We'll have to just go see what happens."
