Noah Hamilton hits a ball foul early in Monday’s 17-10 win for East Noble. Hamilton had one RBI and scored three runs for the Knights. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

KENDALLVILLE – It was just one of those nights.

While the scoreboard said that East Noble had defeated Wawasee, the members of the Warrior baseball team knew that they had only beaten themselves on Monday night. Wawasee dug its own grave with errors and mistakes from start to finish, ultimately suffering its first loss on the season, 17-10 at the hands of the Knights.

“We beat ourselves tonight,” said Wawasee head coach Brent Doty. “We didn’t do the little things right and that’s what we always preach. We had too many errors, passed balls and some bad walks sprinkled in between some hits. We really just hurt ourselves tonight.”

Doty could not have stressed just how much his team hurt itself against East Noble. Of the 17 runs given up by the Warriors against East Noble, 14 were unearned.

The Knights jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and would be sitting comfortable after the second, up 7-0. Wawasee held East Noble scoreless in the third, the only time the Knights were kept off the board all night.

The Warriors finally showed signs of life in the fourth inning as Nate Prescott got things going with a one out double. Prescott was knocked home by Brett Carson’s sacrifice fly. Wawasee gained some momentum with the run, but gave up two more in the bottom half of the inning. Prescott finished the game 2-3 and reached on an error.

Fueling the Knights offensive attack was senior Matthew Patton. Patton drove in two runs and crossed the plate five times. When Patton was not scoring for East Noble, it was his teammate Grey Fox. Fox was more than sly for East Noble as the senior scored a run in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings.

The Knights absolutely dominated the first four innings of the game but Wawasee gave its fans something to cheer about in the fifth. The Warriors ignored the 9-1 deficit and started a big rally.

Drew Anderson kick-started the Warrior rally with a home run to right field, driving home Kurtis Liston and Bailey Yoder in the process. Drew Wright continued the big inning a few batters later with a two-run single. Carson scored on a passed ball before Wright was brought home on an RBI from Patrick Navarro. The seven run output in the inning gave Wawasee new life, but East Noble did not scare so easily.

The Knights tacked on two in the bottom of the fifth and blew open the game in the sixth with six more runs to swing momentum back in their favor. Wawasee would add two runs in the top of the seventh before finally being denied its comeback bid.

Mason Haines may not have had his name in the program but still picked up the win for the Knights, while Nate Hare took the loss for Wawasee. Gage Reinhard and Jordan Currie both spent time in relief for the Warriors.

“We are not going to make any excuses,” Doty said. “It doesn’t matter if we had break last week or if the weather was bad today. Those things factor in a little, sure, but we hurt ourselves. I was happy to see the guys fighting and making that big rally. That was the one bright spot from today, but we’re still disappointed with the result.”

Wawasee (2-1) is scheduled to play at Whitko (4-0) on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m.

The Wawasee C Team was in action as well on Monday night. The Warriors played to a 9-9 tie against Central Noble in Syracuse. Gavin Bontrager Spencer Prescott and Reider Hunley were all listed as key performers for the Warriors in the draw.