Things were already bad for the Warsaw Tigers in their Northern Lakes Conference baseball game Monday at home, but then it got much, much worse. Trailing 7-4 going into the fifth inning against the Concord Minutemen (16-9, 7-4 NLC), the Tigers (10-14, 5-8 NLC) went through four pitchers and gave up 13 runs in the fifth, leading to a 20-4 loss. The loss is Warsaw’s fifth-straight, after it had won five of six. Before that good streak, Warsaw had lost four-in-a-row. “We’ve had streaks, both hot and cold,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler. “We just really need to start doing better. We need to be more consistent and that’s the thing we’ve really been lacking.” Concord began the game with three-straight hits, ending the inning with a 4-0 lead. However, Warsaw responded with a leadoff walk by junior Jason Ferguson in the bottom of the first, followed by an RBI triple by senior Brock Anson, an RBI double by senior Austin Franzen and an RBI double by senior Kyle Morris, cutting the lead to 4-3. Warsaw tied it up in the second when Franzen drove in Anson, but that run would be the Tigers’ last. From there, the Warsaw pitching staff hit the skids and the Concord bats found their groove. “Part of it is, our pitching is pretty thin right now and we’re hurting a little bit,” Hepler said. In the past week, Warsaw has lost two of its best players, as Brady Ousley suffered a hand injury at NorthWood and Austin Moore injured his ankle at Northridge. Both are lost for the season and both are big losses for the Tigers. “Two really freak injuries to two of our best players,” Hepler said. “It’s hard to overcome their absence, from a leadership standpoint and obviously from a production standpoint too.” With sectional play just around the corner, Warsaw doesn’t have much time to get things right. “We just have to stop fighting ourselves and come out and make some plays,” Hepler said. “We have to stay together. It’s a tough stretch here, but we still have time to turn things around and make some good things happen.” The Tigers host NLC foe Elkhart Memorial Thursday.
