Plymouth Pitching Keeps Warriors Off Stride In Conference Loss
Plymouth Pitching Keeps Warriors Off Stride In Conference Loss
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Mark Howe-
Plymouth Pitching Keeps Warriors Off Stride In Conference LossSYRACUSE – Plymouth pitcher Jesus Luva kept Wawasee hitters off balance, and when it was his turn to hit he helped his own cause considerably, lifting the visiting Pilgrims to a 11-2 Northern Lakes Conference baseball win over the Warriors Friday.
Offensively, Luva singled twice, scored once and drove in three runs. But he did more damage to the Warriors from the mound, tossing seven innings and allowing five hits, only one for extra bases, and walking just one while striking out three.
Wawasee head coach Brent Doty was impressed by Luva’s ability to pitch to contact and let the Plymouth defense do its thing.
“Their pitcher, Luva, just kept us off-balance for several innings. He did a good job mixing up his pitches and kept us from getting our timing down. He had a lot of quick innings.
“We had a chance in the sixth to make a little run, but they came back and their bats opened things up in the seventh.”
Plymouth’s Cole Filson more than made up for a fielding error with a triple, double, two singles, three RBI’s and a run scored. The Pilgrims piled up 15 hits on the night.
After Plymouth’s three-run sixth inning, the Warriors tacked on a run and trailed 5-2. The the Pilgrims enjoyed a six-run seventh inning that took what was once a one-run ballgame and put it out of Wawasee’s reach.
Ethan Garza doubled and scored a run for Wawasee, and was also credited with a stolen base. The other Wawasee hits came from Parker Young, Levi Brown, Grant Brooks and Tony Garcia. Carter Woody scored the other Warrior run. The Warriors prevented further Plymouth damage by stranding nine Pilgrims on the bases. Wawasee left four runners stranded on the evening.
Kam Salazar took the loss for the Warriors. He allowed four earned runs and struck out four in 5-1/3 innings.
Wawasee won’t have long to lick its wounds, with a road game against potential sectional opponent West Noble this morning. Should the two teams meet in the postseason, it would be with the sectional title on the line at Wawasee.
“We have an opportunity to play a team that’s going to be in the sectional, and get out of the NLC for a little bit,” said Doty. “It’s always good to play some games on the non-conference schedule. We’ll just kind of erase this one tonight, come out and hopefully play well against West Noble.”
