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"We control our own destiny," said Warsaw baseball coach Will Shepherd. "Everyone is looking up at us right now, and that's where we want to be."
The Tigers improved to 5-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference by defeating Elkhart Memorial 3-0 Monday evening at Tiger Field.
Senior fireballer Ryan DeGeeter improved to 5-0 on the season by pitching the compete-game shutout. He allowed just three hits and struck out 11 in the seven-inning outing.
After 2-1/2 scoreless innings, Warsaw got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Travis O'Neill opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a stolen base. Then Sean Alderfer reached first on a walk.
Brandon LaFollette moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, and DeGeeter drove O'Neill home with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Warsaw held its 1-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth inning. Berto Nunez opened the inning with a double to right field, and Josh Stork walked to first.
Nunez was thrown out on a double play, leaving Stork on first base as pinch-hitter Hans Griepentrog stepped to the plate.
Griepentrog pounded a first-pitch fast ball over the left-field fence for a two-run blast, putting the Tigers up 3-0 going into the top of the seventh inning.
"Hans took that first-pitch fast ball and boom!," said Shepherd. "That was a huge step-up by a junior who has not had many at-bats this season. That was a perfect example of how to be aggressive."
Elkhart Memorial threatened in the top of the seventh when Mike McGregor reached first on a walk and Marc Cave hit a one-out single to put runners on first and second base.
However, DeGeeter stopped the Charger momentum by striking out the last two batters to end the game.
"This was a very big game," said Shepherd. "Elkhart Memorial is a good, solid team. They are very young, and their pitcher did a good job mixing up the pitches."
The win moves Warsaw's overall record to 11-2.
This game is just the start of a busy week for the Tigers, as they play five games in six days. They are off tonight and then host NLC opponents Wawasee on Wednesday and Northridge on Thursday in a continuation of a game rained out last week. Then Warsaw travels to Goshen Friday for another conference game. The Tigers come back home Saturday for a non-confference matchup against Fort Wayne Northrop.
WARSAW 3,
ELKHART MEMORIAL 0
Memorial 000 000 0 - 0 3 2
Warsaw 001 002 X - 3 6 1
Memorial AB R H RBI
Corpe cf 3 0 0 0
Horvath 2b 3 0 0 0
Nielsen c 3 0 0 0
McGregor rf 2 0 1 0
Koons dh 3 0 1 0
Cave 1b 3 0 1 0
Stone lf 2 0 0 0
Bailey ph 1 0 0 0
Phillips p 3 0 0 0
Dempsey 3b 2 0 0 0
Totals 25 0 3 0
Warsaw AB R H RBI
Alderfer ss 2 0 1 0
LaFollette cf 3 0 1 0
DeGeeter p 2 0 0 1
Knepper 1b 1 0 0 0
Smith rf 3 0 0 0
Nunez 3b 3 0 2 0
Stork c 2 1 0 0
Thomas ph 0 0 0 0
Sharp 2b 2 0 0 0
O'Neill lf 2 1 1 0
Griepentrog ph 1 1 1 2
Totals 21 3 6 3
LOB -ÊMemorial 5, Warsaw 8. 2B - McGregor, Nunez, HR -ÊGriepentrog. SB -ÊO'Neill. CS - Alderfer. HB - DeGeeter, Knepper. Sac - DeGeeter, LaFollette. DP -ÊElkhart Memorial 1.
IP R ER H BB SO
Memorial
Phillips, L, 4-2 6 3 3 6 4 4
Warsaw
DeGeeter, W, 5-0 7 0 0 3 1 11
HB - Phillips 2.
