The Warrior dugout comes out to greet Andrew Milligan (11) after he gave Wawasee a 2-1 lead in Wawasee’s 14-3 win over Whitko. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SOUTH WHITLEY – The Wawasee baseball team could not buy a run in their game against Plymouth on Wednesday, leading to a tough conference loss. The Warriors put that game behind them and did a 180-degree turnaround for their contest at Whitko.

Wawasee scored in each of the game’s final five innings to claim a statement win over the Wildcats, a potential sectional opponent, 14-3 on Thursday night.

Ethan Nicodemus (left) and Tanner Gaff (right) share a laugh before the Wildcats first at bat.

“We came out flat,” said Whitko head coach Erik Hisner. “They (Wawasee) came out with more intensity and a better sense of urgency than we did early on. We got behind and they did a great job at tacking on runs, give Wawasee a lot of credit. We didn’t get the hits or make the plays when we had to, obviously.”

Hisner’s team drew first blood in the bottom of the second when Garrett Smiley scored from third after a throwing error by the Warriors. While Whitko certainly grabbed momentum at the time, Wawasee took it right back in the top of the third.

Bailey Yoder, batting ninth for Wawasee on Thursday, led off the inning with a walk. Yoder quickly found himself on third as the bases were loaded for Nate Hare. The Warrior senior delivered for his team with a single, scoring Yoder to tie the game at 1-1. The Warriors scored two more runs in the inning and never looked back, thanks in part to Hare’s success at the plate.

Hare has already made a place for himself in the Warrior lineup by anchoring the cleanup spot this season, but the senior had a coming out party on Thursday night anyways. Hare started out 3-3 and would finish his day 4-5 with three RBIs and a runs scored to fuel the potent Warrior offense.

Nate Hare was exceptional at the plate for Wawasee on Thursday night going 4-5 with three RBIs.

Scoring in the third inning started a nice trend for the Warriors as they would score at least once in every inning after that. Wawasee tacked on three runs in the top of the fourth, one in both the fifth and sixth innings and poured on six in the seventh.

Wawasee’s offensive output was backed by its defensive prowess. Hare held down the hot corner at third while Harrison Shortill, in his first career start, made several nice plays at first to help anchor the Warrior defense. For the second game in a row Wawasee’s defensive success started on the mound. Starting pitcher Patrick Navarro was solid in picking up the win for the Warriors.

Navarro went four and two-thirds innings and recorded two strikeouts. Jordan Currie made his first appearance in several weeks in relief of Navarro and left after putting in two-thirds of an inning of work for Wawasee. Lucas Garza pitched the final inning and a third for the Warriors, giving up no runs, one hit and striking out two.

Defense is where the Wildcats really struggled to get traction. Whitko had six errors in the game and while 11 of Wawasee’s runs were earned, three still crossed home as unearned runs. Two of those came early on to help drain the Wildcats momentum.

Whitko’s Austin Sturgess tags second and attempts to turn the double play against Wawasee on Thursday night.

Riley Anderson struck out two and took the loss for Whitko is his first career start. Avery Robbins, Tanner Hughes and Austin Sturgess all saw time in relief for the Wildcats. Hisner commented about the pitching issues his team is currently facing.

“Right now, we’re about two pitchers deep,” Hisner said. “We’re struggling to find a three and four consistently. Tanner (Gaff) threw twice earlier in the week so we weren’t going to use him today. Ethan (Nicodemus) was on rest and threw about 55 pitches in his start so we were a little thin today.

“That was Riley’s first start today, and he threw okay. Obviously you’re going to struggle your first time out. He gave us five pretty decent innings and at least bridged the gap so we didn’t have to burn up all of our pitchers. But, yeah, we’re pretty thin on the mound right now.”

Offensively Whitko was led by Smiley who was 1-1 with two walks, a double, two runs scored and a stolen base. Tanner Gaff had the other run for the Wildcats, Brady Weeks had a single in his only appearance.

Patrick Navarro went four and two-thirds and got the win for the Warriors.

Outside of Hare’s production, Wawasee received a boost from Yoder and Baiely Hershberger. Both players were 2-5 at the plate. Hershberger had an RBI and a run scored, via courtesy runner Kurtis Liston. Yoder had two RBIs and two runs scored.

Wawasee head coach Brent Doty was more than pleased to see the turnaround from his team.

“Everything just went right tonight,” said Doty. “Pitchers were finding the strike zone for the most part, we were patient at the plate and when we got our pitch, we drove it and put a couple up tonight. It was positive all the way around.”

Wawasee improves to 5-8 on the season and will hope to shake the monkey that Northern Lakes Conference games have become on Friday night. Wawasee has a 17-game losing streak to cleanse itself of when Goshen comes to Warrior Field for a 5 p.m. first pitch.

Whitko (9-6) has its own demons to defeat as the Wildcats are now 0-3 against potential sectional opponents. The Wildcats have Friday off and will host Southern Wells for a double header starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Whitko will play at Parkview Field, home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Wednesday May 7 at 7 p.m. against Manchester. Tickets are still available by contacting the Whitko Athletic Department.

Whitko leaves the field ecstatic after Carter Keirn (12) sold out and made a stellar catch against the fence in right field.