The scoreboard said they were the visitors, but the Warsaw Tigers were at home Wednesday afternoon against the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings.
Wednesday's high school baseball game was originally set to be played at Valley (1-3), but because of standing water at the field, the game was moved to Tiger Field, where Warsaw (3-0) claimed a 7-3 victory."Our field, due to all the rain we've had, is just not playable right now," Valley coach Scott Backus said. "We have a lot of water standing in the outfield. We usually drain well, but we've just had so much rain.
"We were in no way playable, and we didn't want to take three days off in a row," he added. "There's no way we could have rescheduled these guys later in the season, because we're both in conference. We just wanted to play a baseball game tonight."
The Tigers were also anxious to get a game in, as their last game was an 11-10 win over South Bend Riley on April 1.
In that April Fool's Day win, Warsaw senior Jacob Bloom delievered the game-winning hit, while also scoring the game-winning run in the Tigers' 1-0 win over Huntington North on March 30.
In Warsaw's third game of the year, Bloom was once again in the forefront, hitting an RBI-double as the game's second hitter, driving in senior Blayke Kaufman, who had reached after being hit by a pitch.
"He likes batting in that second spot, and I think that will be good for him," Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said of Bloom, who went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and a stolen base. "He looked relaxed, and gave us a spark early, getting that base hit in the first inning. That seemed to relax everybody and get us going."
Scoring five runs in the first two innings, Warsaw got four hits off Valley senior pitcher Graham Groninger, while three others reached after being hit with a pitch and two were walked.
"I'm not as concerned about the hits as I was the hit by pitches and the free passes," Backus said of Groninger, who went four innings, surrendering six earned runs, while issuing three walks and hitting three batters. "This is Graham's first start since having his labrum repaired last fall. We just needed to get him a game, where he threw 70-some pitches to see where he is, how his arm reacts."
While Groninger was having his troubles, Warsaw senior starter Chase Byerly gave up one earned run in three innings of work, striking out two and walking two, holding things down.
"I like the way we came out and swung the bat today," Hepler said of his offense, which spotted Byerly a 5-0 lead in the opening two innings. "We got runs in the first four innings, but I didn't like how we kind of got complacent in the latter part of the game."
Valley sophmore reliever Cory Krider entered the game to start the fifth inning, striking out five, while giving up just one hit in the final three innings.
"He probably did a better job than I would have expected," Backus said of Krider. "We will take it."
In the loss, Wabash Valley College-bound Keith Koser went 2 for 3, including a double and a run.
"I knew they'd hit the ball," Hepler said of the Vikings, who had five hits in the game. "There's no question that they have a good hitting lineup. The Koser kid can hit the ball and the freshman catcher, (Brody) Andrews, hit a nice double. I know they have other guys, but those two stood out. They have a good club. They can compete well in (the Three Rivers Conference). I think they're going to do pretty well this year."
Working a good game behind the plate, Andrews' double drove in a run in the second inning, while fellow freshman James Hackworth showed his talent by almost throwing Bloom out at home plate from center field on an RBI-fly out by junior James Miglin.
"We're young," Backus said. "We've got Keith, we've got Graham, we've got Zach (Prater), who are seniors with experience. The rest of the guys in the lineup, even those with experience, are sophomores right now. We're four games into the season, and we're not striking out a lot. We're putting the bat on the ball, although, I'd like to see us put it on the ball a little more solid. We're making strides. We're getting there."
Valley will look to make another stride at Triton tonight at 4:30 p.m., while the Tigers will put their undefeated record on the line at the Richmond Tournament Saturday.
"We're going to find out how good we are," Hepler said. "Coming in at 3-0 is awesome - I like that, but hopefully it's not a mirage. I think we have a long way to go, with a lot of improvement."
