Warsaw Baseball: Tigers Blanked At Memorial
ELKHART – The Warsaw baseball team would have loved to notch a big road win in the final game of the first half of their Northern Lakes Conference schedule Monday night.
It was the little things that kept the surging Tigers from getting that big win though.
Host Elkhart Memorial made the most of its opportunities to blank Warsaw 1-0 in a crisply-played league contest played out under crisp conditions.
Warsaw, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped, falls to 7-6 overall and goes to 5-2 halfway through the NLC season. The Crimson Chargers improve to 6-9 overall and move to 4-3 in league action.
The contest, which was completed in a scant 83 minutes, saw very few scoring chances for either team.
Memorial junior Matt Kloss, a hard-throwing southpaw, went the distance to notch the pitching win for the hosts. He allowed seven hits while striking out five and walking none to improve to 2-2.
Warsaw right-hander Jordan Jones took his first loss of the season on the hill. The junior gave up one unearned run on just five hits with no strikeouts and no walks to see his mark drop to 3-1. He retired the Chargers in order in the first, fourth and sixth innings.
The Chargers scored their lone run in the bottom of the second frame. Brett Wilson reached on a one-out error for Memorial. Jordan Siddons and Nolan Grose then each smacked singles to load the bases for the home team. Kloss then drove in the winning run on a slow dribbler down the first-base line that turned into an RBI infield hit. Jones then got the final two Memorial batters to fly out to end the threat as the hosts left the bases loaded.
“It was a well-played game, it’s just unfortunate that we could not scratch a run across,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler, who saw his team leave seven men on base in the loss. “We just did not swing the bats well tonight. But credit their pitcher. He was aggressive and came at us.
“Jordan didn’t have his best stuff, but he kept us in it. He deserved a better fate tonight. But to their credit, they put the ball in play to get a run. When we had opportunities we just did not get it done. It’s disappointing that we had a good opportunity to come here and get a win. It’s tough and a challenge to come here to play. It’s a long bus ride, but that’s no excuse. We just need to refocus and get ready to play Wawasee Wednesday.”
The Tigers had three decent chances to dent the scoreboard. Warsaw had back-to-back singles by Zach Witt and Sterling Hay in the first, but Kloss got a popout and a strikeout to end that threat. The Tigers then got a leadoff infield single by Marselo Rodriguez in the fourth, but could not get a sacrifice bunt down prior to a single by Braxton Tennant. The final chance was in the sixth as a Memorial throwing error with one out opened the door, except that a Tiger baserunner was out trying to take second on the play. Kloss then got a groundout to short to strand a Warsaw runner on third base.
“To throw strikes and play good defense is a good sign for us tonight,” said Memorial coach Scott Rost. “We were coming off probably our two best games of the season Friday (an NLC loss at Northridge) and Saturday (a 5-4 loss to No. 1 ranked Penn).
“I credit Matt tonight. He’s been struggling. Tonight he made an adjustment and found his groove out there. I’m pleased with him. We did not perform well at the plate, but give their pitcher credit for keeping us off balance. For us, this was probably a must win in the NLC so that we did not drop three games behind Warsaw. It’s definitely a big win for us in that regard in terms of the conference.”
Witt led the Tigers with three singles.
Hepler has seen pitching carry his team through the first half of the league slate.
“We are happy where we are in the conference, but not content,” noted Hepler. “We’ve made good progress. We’ve gotten good starting pitching. Our starters are throwing strikes and this was our fourth complete game in a row. The league is strong from top to bottom. On a given night, anyone can beat anyone.”
Memorial won the junior varsity game by a 3-2 final. Matt Francis and Liam Patton each had two hits for Warsaw, which drops to 3-9-1 overall and 1-6 in the NLC. Michael Nunez took the pitching loss.
Warsaw plays at Wawasee Wednesday and hosts Goshen Friday in league action. Memorial plays at Plymouth Wednesday and at Wawasee Friday in NLC play and also visits Mishawaka Marian on Thursday night.