By the time the Warsaw Tigers got their offense going Monday evening, the damage had already been done. In a high school baseball game with the visiting Huntington North Vikings, Warsaw fell behind 11-1 before a rally turned the final score into a 12-6 loss. “Once we got going, we showed signs of life,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler. “I’m proud of the guys for fighting back. We got off to a slow start. Give Huntington North credit, they’re a very good baseball team. This is our first game, those things will work itself out. We’ll be fine.” Monday was in fact the Tigers’ season opener, while the Vikings are now 4-1 on the season. “We’ve played a few games, so that was probably an advantage,” said Huntington North coach Kyle Daugherty, whose team was 28-3 last year and sent six players on to the college level. “Just having played some games already, we knew more about ourselves. This was (Warsaw’s) first game, they’re trying to figure things out.” After scoring three runs in the first inning, the Vikings added to their lead in a big way in the second, as 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior Braydin Stell crushed a three-run homer over the leftfield fence off Warsaw reliever Tyler Lafollete. Stell got the best of Lafollette, a sophomore who replaced senior starter Forde Ness with just one out in the first inning, again with another three-run homer in the fourth inning that made it 9-1. “Braydin is one of our best hitters, and today he put on a show,” said Daugherty. “He doesn’t look like a kid that’s fast and strong, but he is. When you put the barrell of the bat on the ball, you’re going to get extra-base hits.” Stell finished the game 3 for 4 at the plate. He tallied seven RBIs and scored two runs. Freshman Kory Goodrich had the Vikings’ only other extra-base hit, a double. Trailing 11-1 and facing the mercy rule – a game is ruled complete when a team trails by 10 or more runs after five innings – the Tigers started a rally by scoring two runs in the fifth inning. They added two more in the sixth and one in the seventh. “We got behind early,” said Hepler. “After the first two innings we played them even, 6-6. We showed signs of life, we just dug ourselves a hole.” While no coach wants to lose, Hepler said he was taking a positive from the fact that his team fought back, especially considering it was his team’s season opener and his players hadn’t practiced outside in two weeks. “We’re going to be fine,” said Hepler. “We’re coming off Spring Break, and we haven’t done anything outside as a team since March 23rd. We’ve had games postponed because of snow, and it’s been cold. We’re gonna be OK. We’ll work some things out, find our rhythm and we’ll be fine.” Senior Josh Frantz was 3 for 4 for Warsaw. He hit a triple, scored a run and finished the game with three RBIs. Junior Tanner Balazs had a double for the Tigers, while junior Michael Miller hit a single. Ness was charged with the loss on the mound. He faced just five batters, giving up three runs and a hit while walking one, hitting two and striking out one. Lafollete gave up five hits and six runs in three innings of work. Juniors Caleb Moneyheffer and Justin Oberlin and sophomore Kevin Hawley combined to pitch the final 3-2/3 innings. Senior Connor West, a 6-3, 205-pound southpaw, picked up the win. West worked three innings. He gave up one hit and one run, while striking out seven and walking two. West struck out the first four batters he faced and five of the first six. The Tigers are in action again Wednesday when they travel to county rival Tippecanoe Valley.
