Warren picks up 13-3 victory over Parkersburg
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VINCENT -- First-year Warren head coach Chad Porter had been patiently waiting for his team to put it all together in all the phases of the game on the same day.
The Warriors did exactly that Wednesday evening against visiting Parkersburg and the results were spectacular as Warren downed the Big Reds 13-3 in six innings.
Warren played outstanding team defense, got a great start from starting pitcher Caleb Davis and pounded out 17 base hits in perhaps their best game of the season.
"We've been playing a lot better lately and that was probably our most complete game of the year," said Porter of his club's efforts. "We've got a lot of new guys out there and we are growing and today from the first pitch played a really clean, complete game."
The Warriors got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning thanks to RBI doubles by Hayden Pelletier and Hunter Vincent.
The Big Reds got one of those runs back in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by catcher Evan Elliott.
PHS starting pitcher Izek Baldwin managed to strike out the side in the first inning despite giving up three hits and opened the second inning by fanning his fourth Warrior batter.
Unfortunately for Baldwin that would be the final out he would record as the next six Warren batters reached base.
Second baseman Gavin Kitts was hit by a pitch to get things started and Carson Gandee followed with a single.
Davis brought home the first run of the inning with a run-scoring double and third baseman Trent Taylor singled for the second straight inning to knock in another run.
Pelletier singled in the third run and first baseman Hunter Vincent chased Baldwin by doubling to give the Warriors a 6-1 lead.
Nelson Woofter came on in relief for PHS and got the final two outs of the inning.
The Big Reds made things interesting in the top of the fifth as they got back-to-back singles off the bats of Jackson Vickers and Carter King and one out later Drew Wooter knocked them both in with a single on a ball that took a bad hop over Vincent's glove at first base.
Davis helped himself to avoid any further damage as he fielded a smash up the middle off the bat of Ethan Marshall and turned it into a 1-6-3 double play to keep the lead at 6-3.
Warren made just one error in the game compared to three by the Big Reds and two of those got them into big trouble in the last of the fifth.
J.T. Rice and Kitts both reached base on fielding miscues by PHS to begin the inning and Davis followed by laying down a beautiful bunt that went for a single to load the bases.
A sacrifice fly by Taylor made it 7-3 and Pelletier followed with his fourth hit of the game to score yet another Warrior run.
Vincent broke things wide open when he drilled a ball to the fence in dead center field which turned into a controversial inside-the-park home run when the Big Red center fielder was not able to immediately remove the ball from under the fence.
Davis retired the Big Reds in order in the top of the sixth and the Warriors brought the game to an early close when Taylor smacked a two-run single to increase the lead to 10 runs and give the Warriors victory number seven on the season compared to nine losses.
Davis scattered seven base hits over his six innings while walking just two.
"Caleb competes like crazy and he's just a very complete well-rounded baseball player," said Porter of his ace lefty. "He struggled a little bit early on with his command but our defense played well behind him and he kept battling back."
Warren got 12 base hits from the first four batters in their lineup with Davis and Taylor collecting three apiece and Vincent pounding out a pair to go along with the four from Pelletier.
Catcher Hunter Grimm and Gandee also collected two hits apiece for the winners.
Drew Woofter led the Big Reds with three base hits including a triple and a pair of runs batted in.
The game wasn't one of the best of the season for PHS coach Alan Burns and his Big Reds.
"That's a tough loss but give Warren credit they came out ready to play and we didn't," said, Burns, whose team slipped to 11-8 with the loss. "They jumped on us early and that kind of set the tone. We were falling behind their hitters most of the game and we just can't do that."
Warren will return to action Friday night at New Philadelphia.