Aaron Greene (5, far left) celebrates with his teammates after scoring the winning run Friday night at Parkview Field. InkFreeNews photo by Nick Goralczyk

By Nick Goralczyk
InkFreeNews

FORT WAYNE – The bus ride home from the Summit City’s downtown is a whole lot better when you win.

The Warsaw baseball team hosted Plymouth Friday evening under the lights at Parkview Field. Despite a slow start the Tigers used some late game heroics to pull out a dramatic 7-6 victory.

Entering the bottom of the seventh tied 6-6, Warsaw’s Aaron Greene led the inning off with a single, a chopper over the head of Plymouth’s third baseman. A sacrifice bunt from Alex Light moved Greene into scoring position. Greene worked his way to third base during a lengthy at-bat by Joey Springer.

A passed ball allowed Greene to run home, emphatically stomping on home plate to seal Warsaw’s win, a move that current Padres and former Fort Wayne star Fernando Tatis Jr. would have stamped with approval. (Well, at least his cutout in the first row behind home plate at Parkview Field looked impressed.)

The long plate appearance from Springer was a common theme for the Tigers. Warsaw found itself going deep in its at-bats all night long. Warsaw had just one strikeout on the evening, that’s the kind of performance that will put a smile on any coach’s face.

“We’ve been swinging and missing a lot this season,” admitted Warsaw skipper Andy Manes. “We’ve had several games with 10 or 12 strikeouts. So, that’s a great change tonight for us. When you put the ball in play, you force the defense to make plays.

“We were aggressive at the plate tonight and that’s what we preach. Incredible job by our guys tonight.”

Plymouth jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with runs being scored by Ivan Winkle and Matt Dobuck. The Tigers, however, were not showing as much offensive prowess in the first two innings as they left four runners stranded in the first two frames, but the bats came alive in the bottom of the third.

Greene led the inning off with a walk and would score his team’s first run of the game a few moments later. Drew McCleary then tied things up with an RBI single and would come around to give Warsaw its first lead of the game, scoring on a passed ball. Jette Woodward tacked on another run with an RBI sac bunt, scoring Khareus Miller.

The Tigers would add two more runs in the fifth as Springer would score on an error and Miller would use a sac fly to score McCleary. McCleary finished his night a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored.

Before Warsaw could close out the win, the Piligrims made things interesting with a four-run performance in the top of the sixth. Plymouth did all of that damage with two outs in the frame. It seemed like it would be the end of the road for Springer on the mound at that point but Manes stuck with his senior and it worked out wonderfully.

Springer overcame two errors in the sixth and kept Plymouth from regaining the lead. In the top of the seventh Springer stayed strong and led the Pilgrims into an inning-ending double play, setting up the dramatic finish in the bottom half of the frame.
The senior, undoubtedly feeling some pressure about pitching in a professional stadium, never allowed an earned run after the first inning and fanned six Plymouth banners on his way to picking up the win.

The win moves Warsaw to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference. While the season is still young, any momentum in the NLC is good to have. Warsaw and Goshen are both sitting at 2-1 in NLC play, tied for second, as of Friday evening while Northridge and NorthWood both boast 2-0 records in a tie for first.

“I know it’s early, but if you go 1-2 it’s just so tough to battle back, especially with teams like NorthWood and Northridge,” Manes explained. “Tonight is a conference win, that kind of gets lost with playing (at Parkview Field) but it’s a good win against a really good team.”

Warsaw will host Leo in a doubleheader at Tiger Field Saturday morning.