Aaron Voirol went four innings and struck out four in Monday’s loss to Concord. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – If it’s true that man sharpens man, then Concord’s Jake Vernon would be the ideal teammate to have. The senior saw his team floundering against Wawasee in a critical Northern Lakes Conference game Monday night and provided the stops, hits and pitches that the Minutemen needed to escape with a 7-6 victory in eight innings.

“Jake’s special, he’s a special player,” said Concord head coach Jim Treadway when asked about his stud senior. “Vern is just a competitor. This is the first year that he’s pitched and, as you saw, he throw pretty darn hard.

“He’s just unbelievably competitive, he kept us in the ballgame. Whether it was behind the plate, at the plate or on the mound, Jake Vernon won us this game.”

Vernon started the game catching and was a wall for starting pitcher Zack Stauffer and reliever Jake Mochamer. At the plate the senior was a killer for the Warriors. Vernon was 4-4 with a walk, had one RBI and scored three runs, including the game-winner.

Vernon picked up his lone RBI in the top of the sixth, bringing his team within one run at 6-5. He would later score to tie the game 6-6 on a sac fly from Jake Wirt. Vernon struck again in the eighth when he reached base with a one-out single, stole second then advanced to third on an error. Vernon scored the go-ahead run on a sac fly from Luke Simon to give the Minutemen their first lead of the contest.

But, even after all of that, Vernon’s biggest impact came on the mound. Vernon pitched two and two-thirds innings in which he gave up no hits, no runs and struck out five Wawasee batters. The lone Warrior to get on base was Drew Anderson who was hit by a pitch. Vernon struck out the final two batters in the bottom of the eighth to clinch the win for Concord.

“He’s just a great player,” stated Wawasee head coach Brent Doty. “You have to give him a lot of credit tonight. But, we can’t put ourselves in the position that we did allowing him to get to the mound. We were up 6-2. We have to build on that and not let them get back in the game.”

Wawasee was having a great day at the plate before Vernon stepped in. The Warriors had 11 hits, every Warrior that batted had at least one hit. Harrison Shortill and Aaron Voirol both had a pair of hits each. Nate Prescott snapped an 0-18 streak at the plate with a two-run double and finished with three RBIs.

Mental mistakes and official errors cost Wawasee a big win against one of the NLC’s top teams, but that’s the nature of the conference according to Treadway.

“We got down 3-0 and we fought our way back to get the win,” Treadway said. “We’re young and it’s going to be like this every game, that’s just the NLC.

“It’s a great conference with great teams and great coaches. Brent Doty has done an unbelievable job with this program, he really has. It’s fun to come here and play again. We got lucky tonight, I think that’s it.”

Wawasee (6-7, 1-6) will travel to Warsaw Wednesday night.