Andrew Milligan delivers a pitch for the Warriors. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – In the short time that Brent Doty has been the head coach of the Wawasee baseball team, he has preached to his players to be able to find five seconds of focus.

“We say ‘five second of focus’ all the time,” said Doty. “Five seconds of focus while you’re at the plate, on the mound, behind the plate or in the field. That’s all it takes. We really tried to implement that this off-season.”

Though the season is young, the Warriors ability to stay focused was put to the test against a tough Wabash team. The Apaches held an 8-3 lead before Wawasee used a six-run sixth inning to claim a 9-8 win on Wednesday night at Warrior Field.

Wabash wasted no time in scoring its first run as Jordan Floor batted-in Kyle Kelsheimer to give Wabash a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Drew Anderson heated up the Warrior bats in the bottom of the inning with a lead-off single then followed up with two stolen bases. Anderson was ultimately brought home on a single by Nate Prescott. Wawasee missed a golden opportunity, however, by leaving the bases loaded in the inning.

Warrior starting pitcher Andrew Milligan kept Wabash at bay until the fourth inning when the senior got into a jam. Jordan Currie relieved Milligan but the Apaches still managed to get four runs across to take a 5-1 lead.

“I told them to not give up,” stated Doty. “It’s not over until we play seven. We were still in the fourth inning, I made sure they knew that and made sure they were still focused on winning the game.”

Wawasee showed signs of life by responding with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame with and RBI from Kurtis Liston that scored Gage Reinhard. Brett Carson also scored on an error to bring the Warriors within two at 5-3.

Wabash assistant Jack Holley gives some words of advice to sophomore Treavor Floor.

Wabash added an insurance run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to take an 8-3 lead. Currie was charged with both runs and after being replaced by Anderson. The large deficit put the Warriors ability to stay focused at a tipping point. But Wawasee did not cave and instead responded with poise.

Carson, the lead-off hitter in the sixth, reached to give the Warriors a spark. Carson eventually scored by stealing home on a passed ball to start the rally. With two outs and the bases loaded, Milligan stepped up and chopped a ball to the third baseman who made an errant throw to first, ultimately allowing three runs to score and Milligan to get to third.

Prescott picked up his second RBI of the day with a double to right field, sending Milligan in to tie the game at eight. Reinhard was credited with the go-ahead RBI after being walked with the bases loaded, scoring Prescott.

The Warrior defense did its job in the top of the seventh with the help of the Anderson brothers. Drew struck out an Apache for the first out while Nic, playing behind the plate, threw out a runner trying to steal second for out number two. Drew then struck out Kelsheimer to secure the win for Wawasee.

“I could not be any prouder of these guys than I am right now,” Doty said smiling. “It probably won’t go our way every time like it did tonight, but we were fortunate enough to get a win this time. This is a different team with a different mentality than it was last year and this is a nice win for us. I can’t be any happier.”

Wawasee (2-0) will host Manchester on Thursday night with first pitch set for 5 p.m.

The Wawasee C-team was in action a well on Wednesday night and enjoyed a big win over Concord. The Warriors scored 10 runs in the first inning to set the tone for a 14-0 win in five innings.