Wawasee’s Kurtis Liston singles against Fairfield Wednesday in the West Noble Baseball Sectional. Fairfield would defeat Wawasee 14-4. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

LIGONIER – “Good teams find a way to make you pay for mistakes and the mistakes came back and got us here tonight.’

Wawasee head coach Eric Screeton may have summed up the thought of every Warrior fan with his post-game interview.

“We were excited, we believed we could get this one done tonight but we made a few mistakes in some tough spots and their middle of the order really made us pay for it,” Screeton later said.

The Warriors gave up 14 hits and had four errors on its way to a season-ending 14-4 loss to Fairfield Wednesday night in the opening round of the IHSAA Class 3-A Sectional at West Noble.

Fairfield, the visiting team on the scoreboard, got its offense going right away as lead-off hitter Zac Kropf got on base with a single to start the game and was batted home shortly after. Kropf’s run was the first of two for the Falcons in the first as Wawasee dug itself an early two run deficit.

Nate Prescott gets a jump start on the basepaths.

The Warriors could not get any offense going in the first or second innings despite putting runners on base. The third inning would prove to be a back breaker for the Warriors as the Falcon offense again got on the score board.

Fairfield justified its No. 10 ranking in 3-A with an explosion of seven runs in the third inning highlighted by a towering home run from Austin Christner. The two-run blast was Christner’s only hit of the day but gave his team the momentum swing it needed to take control of Wednesday’s game. The Falcons picked up a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to open up an 11-0 lead.

The Warriors were in danger of being ousted in five innings by way of a ten-run rule but showed some life in the bottom of the fifth to keep the season alive just a little longer. Drew Anderson put some life back into the green and gold with a three-run homer to put the Warriors on the board. Senior Isaac Rigdon would also drive in a run in the fifth in his final game for Wawasee to complete a four-run fifth inning.

While Rigdon and Anderson led the team in RBIs, it was a lesser known name that led Wawasee at the plate. Sophomore Kurtis Liston went 2-2 and scored a run to help add some spark to the Warrior lineup.

Starting pitcher Nate Hare delivers to Fairfield Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, its season was only extended one inning as Fairfield added three runs in the top of the sixth and held Wawasee scoreless to end the game ahead of schedule. Brad Lantz picked up the win for Fairfield going 5 and 2/3 innings and giving up three earned runs, recording four strikeouts. Nate Hare took the loss for Wawasee pitching three innings and giving up seven earned.

While the season ended in a less than desirable fashion, Screeton remains positive on what is to come from his team.

“It was an up and down season. I definitely believe early on if we would have had a few things fall our way that we could have built some confidence and belief an that would have made a big difference. It happened with our JV squad, they had a big walk-off win to start the season and it set the tone for their year,” Screeton stated.

“I’m happy with the way they competed this year. We preached energy and attitude and that’s what they gave us out here. We have a lot of guys coming back and we are excited about the future,” continued Screeton.

Wawasee is expected to return 13 of the fifteen players on this year’s sectional roster. The two losses being seniors Donovan Navarro and Isaac Rigdon, two players for which Screeton had high remarks.

“Those two guys did everything we asked of them this year. They always had positive attitudes and had the effort you want to see from your seniors. Both were great team players and we’re going to miss them both,” said Screeton.

The Warriors finish its season at 4-21 while Fairfield improves to 18-3 and advances to the second round of sectionals at 9 a.m. Monday morning at West Noble High School. The Falcons will play the winner of the West Noble-Tippecanoe Valley game which will be played Thursday night.