SYRACUSE – Wawasee High School’s varsity baseball team got a leadoff single and a half dozen walks to manufacture a four-run fourth inning en route to a 7-3 Senior Day win over Fairfield Tuesday evening. The Warriors earned the win for the 13 outgoing seniors in spite of getting outhit by the Falcons 8-3. The home team took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but allowed Fairfield to score three runs in the third on an RBI double from Clay Bontrager, a sacrifice fly from Reid Kammerdiener and a run-scoring single from Sam Brown. The Falcons led off their half of the fourth with a pair of singles, but from that point Wawasee senior starting pitcher Andrew Wright retired 12 of the final 13 hitters he faced, needing just 90 pitches for the complete-game win. “I knew I had to keep throwing strikes, and let my defense keep doing their work, and thankfully we were able to get the lead back,” Wright said. After Lucas Garza’s leadoff single in the fourth, and Bailey Hershberger’s sacrifice bunt, Fairfield pitchers walked six of the next seven Warrior batters. The only batter to not draw a walk was senior Caleb Dingeldein, who beat out a double play ball to extend the inning. “That was probably the game-changer for us. We’d had a slow start, and they came out and got on us to take the lead. but then they started giving us walks, and you can’t really say no to those,” said Dingeldein. “It really helped boost our confidence in the dugout, and in our team on the field. What it came down to was a whole team effort.” The home team tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the sixth when a single, a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Fairfield attempted to force a runner out at home twice; the first time the catcher dropped the ball, and the second time the throw home was late. The Warriors missed chances to add to the run total, leaving the bases loaded twice and stranding 11 runners in six innings. So Wawasee was more than happy to take the 10 free passes the three Falcon pitchers issued. Senior Gage Reinhard explained he and his teammates have been more selective at the plate in an effort to score more runs. “Coach has told us if that first strike is there, jump on it, but make sure that first strike you’re cutting on is something you can drive into a hole,” Reinhard said. “Otherwise, let it go by.” Wawasee wraps up its Northern Lakes Conference season, and a stretch of eight games in nine days, with a trip to Dunlap to take on Concord this afternoon.
WAWASEE 7, FAIRFIELD 3 F 003 000 0 – 3 8 2 W 100 402 x – 7 4 0 Fairfield – Haab (3-1/3 IP, 3H, 3R, 5BB, 2K), I. Miller (L, 1/3 IP, 0H, 2R, 4BB, 0K), C. Wright (2-1/3 IP, 2H, 2R, 1BB, 0K) Wawasee – A. Wright (W, 7IP, 8H, 3R, 1BB, 2K) 2B – Bontrager (F) Wawasee record: 9-12 JV – Wawasee 11, Fairfield 5 Wawasee – Blaine Greer, Jarius Boyer, Jacob Garcia, three hits each. Rhett Coblentz, Spencer Prescott, Rylan Kuhn, two hits each.
