PLYMOUTH – NorthWood High School baseball player Vincent Herschberger did more than his part to help beat Warsaw 12-2 in five innings at Plymouth’s Bill Nixon Field Wednesday night. Herschberger hit a three-run homer and doubled twice in three at-bats for the Panthers. But the Tigers played a role in their demise, too, committing five errors in four innings, three of which allowed at least one run to score on the play in progress. The Panthers’ home game was moved to Plymouth due to wet grounds. The Tigers started off like the first-place team in the Northern Lakes Conference, getting an RBI double from Marselo Rodriguez, followed by Henry Howard’s single through the middle to score Rodriguez. But after the Panthers answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first, NorthWood put a five-spot on the board capped by Herschberger’s three-run blast that cleared the fence in right-center field with plenty to spare. Warsaw’s fielding woes included two balls that went between a defender’s feet, and twice failing to catch a throw on a play designed to prevent the Panthers from stealing second and home plate. “It was a lot of missed opportunities on our part to get out of innings that we should have got out of,” said Warsaw head coach Mike Hepler. “We were kind of our own worst enemy tonight against a good NorthWood club that swings the bats well. You can’t give them extra chances in an inning; they’ll take advantage of it. And they did. “The play tonight was uncharacteristic of us, and I told (the players) the best thing they can do is get on the bus and leave this game here in Plymouth; just forget about it and move on.” The loss was the third in NLC play for the Tigers, who remain in first place, a half-game ahead of the Panthers and tied in the loss column. The Tigers travel to Middlebury Friday to take on Northridge.
