Drew Anderson is greeted by teammates after driving in a run for Wawasee Wednesday. The Warriors rallied to top Warsaw 4-3.
SYRACUSE – The Wawasee baseball team had to be very hungry for a victory in the Northern Lakes Conference.
The Warriors finally tasted success that was so very sweet on Wednesday night.
Wawasee reversed its fortunes of late by rallying past archrival Warsaw for a thrilling 4-3 win in NLC action.
A sacrifice fly off the bat of senior Gage Fannin with no outs in their final at bat gave the hosts the huge walk-off win to set off a big time celebration by the hosts.
The Warriors won on the final play despite a tremendous diving catch by Warsaw center fielder Ethyn Bradley on a ball hit over his head.
Wawasee, which had tied the game with a run in the sixth inning, loaded the bases in the final frame on two walks and a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled by Warsaw.
Wawasee players celebrate after beating Warsaw Wednesday.
The Warriors had lost 19 straight NLC games, including a 7-6 final at Warsaw on April 21, dating back to last season. The Warriors last league victory was a 6-2 win over Elkhart Memorial last April.
The resilient Warriors, who had lost several close conference games late in going 0-7 in the first half of the league season, rallied from a 3-1 decifict to stun the Tigers.
“Our guys deserve all the credit tonight,” said Wawasee head coach Brent Doty, his team now 6-10 overall and 1-7 in the NLC. “I know in my four years playing sports here at Wawasee when I was here I don’t think we ever beat Warsaw in anything. This is a great win. They are a top tier team in the NLC.
“This is about our kids. They battled and they executed. They finally put one together and played a full seven innings. We had been 0-7 because we had not taken advantage of the opportunities we had in NLC games before tonight. Tonight we did.
“Gage is a senior leader for us and I wanted him up there at the end. We just wanted to try to get back to winning games.”
Warsaw coach Mike Hepler saw his team drop to 8-8 overall and 5-3 in the NLC with their fourth straight loss. The Tigers had the lead in all four of the losses.
Starter Tyler LaFollette fires one for the Tigers.
The Tigers, who came out flat Wednesday, managed just four hits off a pair of Wawasee pitchers, starter Jordan Currie and lefty reliever Aaron Voirol who collected the win. Warsaw’s four pitchers combined to walk four and hit five Wawasee batters in the setback.
“We came out big time flat tonight and I don’t know why,” said Hepler. “I told our team Monday (after a 4-2 loss at Elkhart Memorial) that Wawasee would come out and give us their best. They believe me now.
“Wawasee played a nice game. Congrats to them. We did nothing offensively. We had way too many pop outs. We are just not very aggressive at the plate. We’ve got to be better.
“Inconsistent. That’s what we were. We had some good plays defensively and I thought that Caleb Heckaman came in and pitched well for not having pitched in over a week.
We just don’t have a killer instinct right now and that’s not the way to play baseball. We have to fight through this.
“A week ago we were 8-4 and feeling pretty good after wins over Northridge and Concord. Now, here we are 8-8.”
Wawasee took a 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly by Drew Anderson.
The Tigers scored three times in the fourth frame to take a 3-1 lead. Dean Katris delivered the key hit with a two-run single to right to make it 2-1.
The Warriors tied the game with single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings. Nate Hare stroked an RBI single in the fifth and Drew Anderson drove in a run in the sixth with a groundout.
Senior Justin Oberlin led the Tigers with two hits. He also had an outstanding backhanded stab in the sixth to save a run and started a key 6-4-3 double play in the fifth to end another Wawasee scoring threat.
Junior Gage Reinhard led the offense for Wawasee with three hits, including a double, and two runs scored. Senior Andrew Milligan had a pair of hits.
Warsaw won the junior varsity game Wednesday 13-1. Winning pitcher Marcello Rodriguez had three hits, including a home run.
Warsaw plays at Huntington North Thursday and then hosts Goshen Friday. Wawasee hosts Elkhart Memorial Friday and entertains Fort Wayne Concordia on Saturday.
Nate Prescott heads to the dugout for Wawasee.