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The roles were reversed for Warsaw and Triton Thursday at Tiger Field. Although the much-bigger school, the 7-14 Tigers were playing somewhat of the underdog against the 20-2 Trojans.
Triton entered the game in the midst of a winning streak of 14 games, an explosive offense and a pitcher that was 5-0 on the season. Warsaw on the other hand was struggling, having lost two straight games to a Concord team that Triton had beaten by six runs earlier in the year.
And Warsaw seemed to relish the David role to Triton's Goliath. The Tigers exploded for nine runs in the fourth and fifth innings combined en route to a 13-4 rout of the Trojans.
The Tigers came out aggressive at the plate against Triton starter Brad Hargrave and pounded out 13 hits against Hargrave (5-1). On the other side of the ledger, Warsaw starter Andy Holst (1-2) picked up his first win of the season by scattering 11 hits and getting good defense behind him to help keep the Triton offense from going crazy.
"It was good old fashioned baseball the way it should be played," Warsaw coach Will Shepherd said. "Both teams played aggressive. We caught some breaks early, and that helped us get off to a good start. We took advantage of those breaks.
"It seemed like the kids were really focused on playing good defense behind an outstanding pitching performance by Andy Holst," he said. "There are not too many teams that have held this bunch to four runs."
Unlike most times when the small school comes into the big school's home field looking to pull off the upset, it was Warsaw that was the hunter.
"I think we were ready," Shepherd said. "I told them it doesn't matter how big the school is. I have never been too big on school size. I am into how good are they. I prepared our team that this is a very good baseball team coming into Tiger Field. They will run you out of here if you are not prepared to be aggressive when you get a chance to make plays. Luckily, our kids really responded to that challenge."
Evan Miller and Jason Barrett each collected four RBIs for the Tigers, and leadoff batter Sam Wihebrink had four hits, knocked in three runs and scored twice.
"I am pleased to say that the game is more fun when you are aggressive like that," Shepherd said. "Obviously Triton has the same kind of team. They took some incredible at bats. They hit the ball hard, and we made some plays on them."
Warsaw got big diving catches on defense from left fielder Pat Riley, right fielder Barrett and first baseman Joe Stanley to help keep the Trojans at bay.
In losing only their third game of the season, the Trojans probably played their worse game of the year. Triton did have the 11 hits, but stranded nine runners, including the bases loaded in the first inning without scoring a run.
"We did not play well at all tonight," Triton coach Jim Shively said. "We came out flat. We did not play good baseball. They came out and made tough plays, and we didn't make some easy plays.
"Offensively, we hit the ball okay, but we didn't get hits when we needed them in a couple of spots," he said.
After Warsaw took a 3-0 lead into the fourth inning, the Trojans came up with three runs of their own to tie the score. Triton had a chance to add possibly two more runs with runners on base, but Kyle Gould's hard grounder hit teammate Cory Monesmith coming off second base to end the inning.
Warsaw then exploded for five runs in the bottom of the inning, led by a two-run single by Miller. Jason Barrett's two-run single highlighted a four-run fifth inning as Warsaw put the game out of reach.
"When you play good teams, you can't afford to play bad," Shively said. "We have had a couple of games this year where we have played bad and still won against weaker teams. For the most part, if we play a decent ball game, we are going to win."
Warsaw roughed up Hargrave and handed him his first loss of the season.
"Our pitcher was throwing high to them, and they were teeing off on it," Shively said.
Scott Blackford led Triton with a 4 for 4 performance from his leadoff position.
Warsaw (8-14) hosts the Tiger Classic this Saturday, while Triton (20-3) hosts Argos Saturday in a doubleheader at 11 a.m.
