Cross-county rivals Warsaw and Wawasee met Monday evening at Tiger Field for the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both squads. While the Warriors would strike first, it would be Warsaw with the last laugh, scoring runs in each of the final four innings to win 8-2.
It looked as if Warsaw starting pitcher Reed Nelson was going to cruise through the top of the first inning, as the hurler struck out the first two hitters he saw before getting two strikes on the third. He would get his third punch out of the inning, but the ball would get away from catcher Cohen Heady and make it to the back stop, allowing Wawasee’s Hunter Fiedeke to reach first base.
From here, the wheels would fall off a bit, as Nelson would walk Reed Reidenbach and give up an infield single to Addison Coy to load the bases. Fiedeke would come in to score on a second walk to Dane Cripe, who earned an RBI with a base on balls. Nelson would settle in from there, striking out Ryan Menzie to finish off a rare four-strikeout inning.
Kaleb Salazar, the starter for the Warriors, ran into no such trouble in the bottom of the first. The righty retired the side in order, striking out two, to send the game into the second. The following inning looked similar to the previous one for Nelson, as he got the first two outs of the inning rather easily, including one on a nice running catch by left fielder Khareus Miller, before singles by Ty Brooks and Salazar put two men on. Nelson was able to get out of the jam thanks to some nice defense from his catcher, as Heady threw out Brooks as he was attempting to steal third base.
The bottom of the second saw yet another two-out rally, although this one, like in the half inning prior, was unable to produce a run. After Salazar added two looking Ks to his total to begin the frame, the Tigers finally got into the hit column on a single up the middle by Kellan Bailey. Oliver Nisen would get on base via a walk to put two men on, but Salazar escaped the threat with his fifth strikeout of the game.

    Senior Kaleb Salazar of Wawasee follows through with his pitch...Nieter

Nelson’s first clean inning of the game came in the top of the third, as he struck out two to get to seven on the day as well as a pop out to third to keep the Wawasee bats at bay. The Tiger offense was finally able to break through on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning. It all started with a leadoff walk to Logan Kim, who promptly stole second before reaching third on a wild pitch. An error by Brooks at short throwing over to first allowed Kim to come in and score the Tigers’ first run of the game.
From there, the floodgates opened, as Grady Nelson would bring home Miller, who reached on the error, on an RBI single. Heady would then reach on Wawasee’s second error of the inning and both runners would advance on a pickoff gone awry to get into scoring position. That brought up Hunter Dippon, who would go opposite field on a grounder to right field that scored two more.
The Warriors would suffer a huge loss not long afterwards. After getting a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Wawasee had Dippon in a rundown in between first and second. While trying to cover second base, Salazar appeared to injure his leg on the play and walked off the field gingerly. Ryan Mack replaced him on the mound, and he’d get the final out to stop the bleeding.
Even after the long layoff, Nelson didn’t miss a beat in his return to the mound in the top of the fourth. He would get into a little bit of trouble with one out as an error allowed Ryan Menzie to reach base, followed by a single by Logen Kessler. However, Heady was not done adding scalps to his mantle, and was able to pick off Menzie at second after the Wawasee third baseman took too far of a lead. Nelson was then able to force a groundout to end the threat.
Not to be outdone, Coy was able to catch a man stealing in the bottom of the fourth, getting rid of Kim after he reached with a bunt single. But even still, the Tigers were able to add on to their lead. Miller would walk, steal second and third and ended up being brought home on a single by Logan O’Malley. Through four innings, Warsaw was up 5-1.
The fifth inning would be the final for Nelson, as he gave up a leadoff single to Brooks that was followed up by a walk to Mack. He’d be replaced by Alex Brooks. While the junior would give up a walk to Coy to load the bases, that would be the only mistake he’d make, striking out the other three hitters he faced to keep the Tiger lead at four heading into the bottom of the fifth.
That lead would be extended, as the first hitter in the bottom of the fifth, Grady Nelson, would drive a ball over the center field fence for a home run and his second RBI of the game. Bailey would add a double in the inning, but no more runs would score.
Menzie led off the top of the sixth with a single, but a crisp 4-6-3 double play by the Tiger infield quickly erased the runners. Brooks would finish off the inning strong, putting Warsaw just three outs away from victory. Warsaw would pick up two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth as some nifty baserunning resulted in Miller’s third run of the game, followed by an RBI double by Heady.
Brock Bowser came in for the Tigers to shut the door in the seventh, and he did just that. While Brooks singled to lead off the inning to put the cap on a 3-4 day, the rest of the Warrior hitters didn’t find much success. Brooks would end up scoring on a wild pitch, but that would be it as Warsaw began NLC play with a win.
Warsaw (4-4, 1-0 NLC) plays at Goshen on Wednesday, while Wawasee (3-1, 0-1) is at Mishawaka.