Warsaw Baseball: Tigers Get Effort, Not Result Versus Raiders
MIDDLEBURY – Coach Mike Hepler, though the end result was not what he was looking for, had very few complaints with his Warsaw baseball team Friday night.
The Tigers, despite a much better performance than just two nights earlier, came out on the short end of a 9-6 final to host Northridge in a key Northern Lakes Conference game.
Warsaw, with its second straight NLC loss in three days, falls to 8-4 in league play with two games left on the conference docket. NorthWood, which beat the Tigers 12-2 on Wednesday, moves into the NLC lead at 8-3. The Raiders, who are 15-6 overall, are now tied with the Tigers at 8-4. Plymouth is also 8-4 after a 4-3 NLC win over Wawasee Friday night.
“I really have no complaints with our play tonight,” said Hepler, whose team falls to 10-8 overall. “It was a competitive game and we just came out on the short end of it. Our effort was so much better today than Wednesday. That was, by far, our worst game of the season.
“We’ve had a couple of rough games our last two and we just are in a stretch of the season right now where we are having a hard time finding our groove. We need to try and right the ship on Saturday (when we host Carroll for a doubleheader).
The Tigers had topped the Raiders at home by a 3-2 count back on April 27. Northridge had just four hits in that contest, but had 11 hits in Friday night’s win.
“Credit Northridge tonight,” remarked Hepler. “They have a nice club. They have improved and they made nice adjustments at the plate tonight. They did a nice job.
“I think that the conference this season is the most competitive that I have ever seen it. Anyone top to bottom can beat anyone on a given night. I think that we’re a good club, as is NorthWood and Northridge. We just want to try and win those last two conference games next week and finish 10-4 and see where that puts us.”
Warsaw got a huge offensive performance Friday night from Henry Howard. The junior shortstop belted a pair of home runs, a no-doubt solo blast in the fourth and a two-run shot in the fifth, and also had an RBI double.
Senior leadoff hitter Sterling Hay also had a strong showing with three hits for the Tigers. He reached base in all four of his at-bats in the contest.
“Henry had a big game and we had a nice effort from Sterling,” Hepler said. “We got some key hits tonight. Our goal is to get six runs and we got that.”
Warsaw, which finished just 4-10 in the NLC a year ago, started strong Friday night. Senior cleanup hitter Marselo Rodriguez delivered a two-out RBI single and Howard followed with an RBI double for a 2-0 lead.
The Raiders, who were coming off an 11-3 win over Wawasee on Wednesday, cut the lead in half in the home half of the first frame on an RBI double by senior Andrew Kennedy. Northridge tied it in the second at 2-2 on an RBI single by senior Eric Burgess. The hosts left the bases loaded in that frame.
Northridge took the lead for good with a four-run third inning to make it 6-2. Junior Camm Nickell and Burgess had back-to-back RBI singles to highlight the frame. Warsaw got within 6-3 as Howard led off the fourth by blasting a shot over the left field fence. The hosts then scored three more runs in the fourth, getting back-to-back RBI doubles from Kennedy and sophomore Nick Hooley after a one-out triple off the bat of senior Matt Miller, to make it 9-3.
The Tigers show plenty of fight in the fifth frame. Senior Zach Witt smacked an RBI double to make it 9-4 and Howard connected on his two-run roundtripper with two outs to make it 9-6. Nickell then came on in relief for the Raiders in the sixth and struck out the side. Kennedy then entered in the final frame in the seventh and allowed a leadoff single to Hay before getting two strikeouts and a flyout to end the contest.
Junior Isaac Lenon made the start for Warsaw and went the first 2 1/3 innings and took the loss to drop to 1-3. Junior Jordan Jones, who fired a four-hitter in the first game with the Raiders, worked the final 3 2/3 innings for the Tigers.
Senior southpaw Andy Ross went the first five innings for the Raiders and got the win to run his season mark on the hill to 5-1.
Northridge won the junior varsity game by a 5-1 count.
Warsaw is slated to host Carroll Saturday for a doubleheader at 10 a.m.The Tigers then host Concord on Monday and Elkhart Memorial on Thursday to complete NLC play, plus play a non-conference game at Mishawaka Wednesday. Northridge is scheduled to host Fairfield for a twin bill Saturday at 10 a.m. The Raiders then finish league play next week with road games at Memorial on Monday and at Plymouth on Wednesday.