Warsaw Finds Ways To Plate Runs In Win Over Wawasee
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Anthony Gadson-agadson@timesuniononline.com
SYRACUSE — Following 22 scoreless innings, the Warsaw baseball team finally plated a run Wednesday at Wawasee and scored a Northern Lakes Conference win in the process. Entering the game on a five-game losing streak, three of which were via shutout, the Warsaw Tigers (6-8, 3-4 NLC) rebounded with a 5-1 win over the Wawasee Warriors (4-12, 1-7 NLC). "We concentrated on one thing today, and that was getting good, aggressive at-bats," Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said. "It's the one thing I felt we were lacking over our losing streak." Over the last three games, its been runs too. It looked like the scoreless streak would end at 21 innings when senior Austin Moore reached second base in the second inning with one out. But just when things were looking good, he was called out for leaving second base too early while trying to advance to third on a flyout to left field by senior Garrett Gruenewald. Things went a little better in the third, when senior Peyton Balasz scored on an RBI-flyout by junior Shay Hepler, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. "I felt like we could breath again," the Warsaw skipper said about the about breaking through with a run. "We were really fighting ourselves. We had the situation where (Austin Moore) was called for leaving too early from second. I was thinking, 'Wow. Can we just get anything else to go against us?' It just kind of made me laugh, because I knew we were going to score eventually." Having scored that run, the Tigers added three more in the fourth, which began with a walk to senior Kyle Morris, followed by a double from senior Austin Franzen, an RBI-single by Moore and an RBI-flyout by Gruenewald. In all, seven of Warsaw's nine starters posted at least one hit, with the other two, Shay Hepler and Gruenewald, each driving in runs on sacrifice fly outs. "Good effort by our hitters today," Hepler said. Junior Jason Ferguson scored another run for Warsaw in seventh, when Morris hit a double, increasing the lead to 5-0. However, that lead wasn't as secure as the Tigers may have thought. Entering in relief of Gruenewald in the sixth, senior Kyle Gibbs ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh. After seeing sophomore Jordan Currie reach on an error, Gibbs got a strikeout, but then walked back-to-back Warriors. With the bases juiced, Gibbs induced a pop out, but then hit senior John Beer, to cut the lead to 5-1 with the bases still loaded with two outs. At that point, Hepler made the decision to go to the bullpen. "You can kind of tell when your guy's losing it a little bit," he said. Hepler went to right-handed senior Brock Anson, who struck out sophomore Nate Hare, ending the threat and the game. "It was good for him to come in and just be aggressive in that situation," Hepler said about Anson. "I told him, 'We don't need anything fancy. Just come right at him.'" Anson got the save, preserving the win for Gruenewald. "I was very pleased with Garrett Gruenewald and the way he was aggressive on the mound," Hepler said. "He only had one walk and one hit-batter, so when we can throw strikes, we're pretty good." In all, Wawasee mustered just four hits off the Tiger pitchers. "We didn't attack the ball," Wawasee coach John Blunk said. "We had guys on with two outs, and they got guys on with no outs, so they could do something. They could move a runner over, and the out didn't hurt." The loss is Wawasee's fifth in six games, dropping the Warriors to 1-7 in NLC play. "We're just trying to find ourselves again," Blunk said. "We were playing OK, and now, we need to find ourselves again. Hopefully, we can find it in the next three weeks." Seeing his team snap its five-game skid, Hepler is also just trying to get things moving in the right direction as the season winds down. "It was a good confidence booster for our team," he said. "We have an uphill climb for the conference race for sure, but if we can just keep showing signs of improvement from today's win, that's really what I care about." Both squads are back in NLC action Friday, as Warsaw hosts Goshen and Wawasee welcomes in Elkhart Memorial.
