Whitko players Alex Bechtold, Landen Goff, Zach Hewitt and Drew Bradford huddle up during a break in the action at Saturday’s Wabash Regional. (Photo by James Costello)

WABASH — With their first-ever sectional title in hand, Whitko’s Wildcats looked a lot like a team that had never played on a regional stage before.

Once they settled in, they started to play like their usual selves, but after spotting Wapahani six runs over the first two innings, it was too little, too late.

Whitko baseball closed out a historic season with a 6-0 loss to Wapahani at the Wabash Regional Saturday afternoon. The Raiders rode the momentum from that afternoon win to a 6-4 upset of Lafayette Central Catholic in the championship at the 2A tourney Saturday night.

“I don’t know if today was one of those things, first time in a regional kind of early-inning jitters or not,” said Whitko coach Erik Hisner. “But it just wasn’t us the first couple innings. Once we got our feet wet, we hung in there. Drew (Bradford) kept us in it; we just couldn’t get any runs across.”

Bradford looked solid after the first two innings, surrendering only two hits while shutting the Wapahani offense down over the remaining four frames. But the first two frames proved to be Whitko’s undoing. In fact, the first inning proved more than enough as the Raiders plated four runs batting around the order.

A leadoff single by Tysen Lipscomb was followed by an overthrow on a bunt from Stephen Vickery, and Garrett Stanley roped a two-run double down the third baseline as Wapahani started fast. Stanley stole third and scored on a Chandler Wise groundout, Alec Summers and Brevan Rivers drew back-to-back, two-out walks, and Isiaiah Brosher singled in Summers with a liner into left to stake the Raiders to an initial four-run lead.

Wapahani added two more in the second as Lipscomb led off with a double, then scored when Wildcats catcher Zach Hewitt tried to throw to third to get the lead runner out on a Vickery bunt and the throw sailed errant. Wise singled in Stanley for the game’s final run.

“Any time you jump out early and have a big inning, get three or more runs, it’s going to change the whole impact of the game,” explained Hisner. “It takes away some things that we might want to do offensively, and it makes them a little more aggressive in what they want to do. Give them a lot of credit, they get the leadoff single, a guy gets a great bunt down, we don’t make a play, and then like great teams do, they take advantage of it.”

While Bradford and the Whitko defense settled in after the second, Wapahani starter Summers was outstanding from the get-go.

Summers scattered three hits while walking none and striking out 11. The Wildcats never got a runner in scoring position.

“I thought he was outstanding. We knew coming in he wasn’t going to walk many guys, and we were going to have to earn what we got,” said Hisner. “We thought it was going to have to be a 2-1, 3-2 type of game. When they get six in the first two it puts you in a bad position, but I thought he was outstanding. I think he only gave up three hits and didn’t walk anybody and probably struck out 10-plus at least.”

Whitko bows out of the year at 21-10 and bids goodbye to a cast of eight seniors with Saturday’s loss. While that final game may have hurt, the Wildcats should have plenty of fond memories to look back on from a 20-win season that saw them break through for the program’s first sectional title.

“It’s tough to say goodbye, but a good group of kids and like we told them, nothing to hang your head about. They were the first team for Whitko to get the sectional championship, so real proud of them for that, and that’s something that no one can take away,” Hisner said. “Hopefully when they come back years later with their kids and wives, they can look at it, and it’s something they can be proud of.”