Wawasee head coach Eric Screeton discusses matters with Drew Anderson during their game against NorthWood Monday night. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – “I just reminded our guys of the expectations that this program has,” NorthWood Panther baseball head coach Zach Benko stated about the speech he gave his team before the third inning in Monday night’s 6-1 victory over Wawasee at Warrior Field.

“I just felt that we were slacking a little bit in our pregame and it showed in the first few innings. I told the guys we needed to focus and we got back on track and got the win,” Benko later continued.

After a sloppy defensive showing in the bottom of the second inning in which the Warriors loaded the bases but could not manufacture a run, Benko chewed out his team for not hustling and not taking the game seriously. Shortly after his team returned to the dugout, the stern and fiery speech was just what the Panthers needed.

With one out in the third inning, NorthWood’s Kyle McCoy smacked a single to get things going for the visitors. Two batters later, McCoy crossed home plate two give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

NorthWood’s Trent Sellers begins the swing of an RBI hit in the win against Wawasee.

That was not all McCoy did for his team. The junior went 2-2 at the plate in three appearances with a sacrifice bunt and an RBI. McCoy also did some solid work on the mound pitching all seven innings and striking out nine Wawasee batters.

With a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning, the Panthers blew open the game with a four-run inning. The big inning started with a home run by Dominic Miranda. Five NorthWood batters reached base in the inning, but only two had hits. The other three batters reached on errors, a problem that Wawasee head coach Eric Screeton is trying to find an answer for.

“We’re playing right now where we’re expecting of that bad inning,” stated the Warrior coach. “They keep expecting that bad play to happen and then it’s all down hill from there. Right now we just have to find someone that’s going to stop thinking that way.”

The Panthers four-run fourth was as far down the hill that the Warriors would slide on Monday night. Relief pitcher Jordan Currie kept the Panthers scoreless for the next two and two-thirds innings, striking out one Panther while Drew Anderson pitched a scoreless seventh inning for Wawasee. Junior Andrew Milligan started the day on the mound for Wawasee and pitched three and two-thirds innings striking out four batters and was charged with four earned runs.

Wawasee’s Jordan Currie works in relief Monday night against NorthWood.

Panther senior Chad Ervin had some trouble playing defense today but was a spark plug for the NorthWood bats. The first baseman went 2-3 and drove in two runs while also reaching on an error. It was Ervin’s first inning double that started the nice day on the scoreboard for the Panthers and he drove in McCoy with two outs.

Anderson led Wawasee, going 2-4 with a stolen base and scored the team’s only run on the day. Junior Nate Hare drove in Anderson in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1. Hare went 1-3 with the RBI.

Wawasee falls to 3-12 on the season and is 1-7 in the Northern Lakes Conference. The Warriors will seek out some revenge Wednesday night at they take on NLC foe Northridge in Middlebury. The Raiders pummeled the Warriors 16-0 on April 22 in Syracuse. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Northridge Middle School.

The Wawasee JV (8-3) continued to pound the ball, running up a 15-0 score on NorthWood in five innings.

Lucas Garza had quite a night, throwing a five-hitter and driving in two runs to help his own cause.

Todd Hauser and Drew Wright combined for four hits, four runs scored and three RBIs.