Warsaw’s Kevin Hawley prepares to fire a pitch Monday night in the sectional title game at Elkhart Memorial.

ELKHART – The Warsaw baseball team put up its best effort of the season in three meetings versus Northridge Monday night.

It still was not enough for the Tigers.

Warsaw, despite getting strong pitching and excellent defense, dropped a 3-0 final to the Raiders in the championship game of the Class 4-A Elkhart Memorial Sectional.

Northridge, which had outscored Warsaw 31-7 in their pair of Northern Lakes Conference regular-season meetings this spring, earns the sixth sectional title in program history and the first since 2002. The championship is also the first-ever in Class 4-A for the program.

The Raiders, who used a three-run fourth inning to sideline the Tigers, improve to 23-5. Coach Andrew Brabender’s squad moves on to the LaPorte Regional on Saturday to face Chesterton in the second semifinal game.

Warsaw, which loses in the sectional final for the second straight year, closes out the campaign at 9-19.

The Tigers, who had lost 19-5 and 12-2 to the Raiders earlier, just could not come up with the key hit.

Tyler LaFollette warms up before hitting.

“We just could not catch a break offensively,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler. “A hit here or there and it could have been a different game. Leaving runners on base was the story of our season and that was the case again today.  I didn’t feel that we would get shutout today. We had so many chances.

“Credit Northridge. They won it. They battled and hung in there. Their pitchers made pitches when they had to and they made the plays they needed to.”

Warsaw did not dent the scoreboard despite a pair of golden chances. The Tigers, in a scoreless contest, had runners on first and third with no outs in the third. A popout to second and then a double play on a missed squeeze bunt attempt thwarted that rally. Warsaw then had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth inning before hitting into a 4-6-3 double play to end that opportunity.

“I rolled the dice on that squeeze with two strikes (after the previous bunt attempt went foul), but I thought that we would catch them off guard,” explained Hepler. “I liked that play. The pressure was on them tonight. We had nothing to lose.”

The Raiders, after managing just one hit in the first three innings, plated all three runs in the bottom of the fourth. The first run trotted home on a balk call.  Freshman Nick Hooley walked to open the frame and then stole second and third before scoring on the balk. Junior Landon Fisher and senior Payton Carson then drove in runs with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 3-0.

“I kind of felt like we were playing on borrowed time with the way they had been scoring runs,” stated Hepler of the 0-0 stalemate through the first three innings.

Marselo Rodriguez reacts for the Tigers.

Senior Starter Kevin Hawley, who worked into the fourth inning, and senior reliever Tyler LaFollette both pitched outstanding for the Tigers.

“Kevin and Tyler threw great tonight and kept us in the game,” remarked Hepler. “Credit them. We knew what Northridge liked to do and our guys made adjustments and kept them off balance.

“The thing is that tonight we made the plays and kept it close. Our pitching and defense really improved the last month. We played so much better late in the season. Once we figured it out, we were very competitive and fun to watch.”

Warsaw outhit Northridge 5-4 in the loss. Junior Marselo Rodriguez had a double for the Tigers. Senior Cole Baker had two singles and junior Blake Foreman and senior Brad Christenberry each had one. Sterling Hay had two stolen bases.

Northridge southpaw junior starter Andy Ross and junior Andrew Kennedy, who pitched the seventh, combined for eight strikeouts. Ross walked four and Kennedy, who struck out the final two Tiger hitters, none.

The Tigers got some fine defensive plays in the field from second baseman Christenberry, shortstop Zach Witt and centerfielder Sterling Hay.

Warsaw loses seven seniors in Christenberry, Hawley, Baker, LaFollette, Ethyn Bradley, Ryan Marshall and Jonathan Murphy.

Brad Christenberry watches after fouling off a bunt attempt for Warsaw.