Lukas Maier and Warsaw earned its first win of the season Friday against Columbia City. InkFreeNews file photo by Mike Deak

NorthWood Baseball 9, Fairfield 7

A wild start settled into another solid NorthWood win on Friday afternoon.

The Panthers and Falcons combined to score nine runs in the first inning, the host Panthers head 5-4. Both teams would score exactly one run each in each of the next three innings, and an insurance run in the sixth by NorthWood (4-0) helped put over the win.

Both teams combined for 10 hits each, Owen Miller leading the Falcons with three hits and drawing a hit by pitch, and NorthWood getting two hits and two RBI from Beau Stankovich and two hits and three RBI from Logan Balasa.

Balasa worked three scoreless innings of relief pitching to get the save for Landon Kemp, who gave up seven runs, but only three were earned as NorthWood committed five errors in the contest. Braylon Chupp took the loss for Fairfield.

East Noble Baseball 13, Wawasee 2

The Knights cooled off the red-hot Warriors Friday in Syracuse.

The Warriors came into the night on a four-game win streak, but East Noble put that to rest with nine runs in the first three innings, taking a 9-1 lead into the second half.

Lucas Ringler had a pair of triples and a run scored and Gavin Malone added a hit and a run for the Warriors (4-1). Ty Brooks took the loss, giving up nine runs, but only two of those were earned.

JV ball saw East Noble and Wawasee end in a 13-all deadlock. Kaleb Salazar led the way for wawasee with four hits and four RBI and Landen Alexander added a double and three RBI.

Warsaw Baseball 7, Columbia City 4

The Tigers finally got up off the mat, gathering its first win of 2021 Friday at home against Columbia City.

Joey Springer allowed just two runs and struck out five over 4.2 innings to get the win, and helped his own cause with two hits and a run driven in. Alex Light, Sam Justice and Drew McCreary all had two hits for the Tigers, which pounded out 12 in the contest after getting just two the night before against Huntington North.

Warsaw’s (1-4) breakout inning was the third, when it plated five runs, highlighted by a two-run double by Khareus Miller.

South Bend Adams 12, Tippecanoe Valley 3

Eight errors and 10 left on base doomed the Vikings against the visiting Eagles Friday night.

Full stats from the contest were not provided.

Grace Baseball 3, Marian 2
Marian 5, Grace 4

Grace’s baseball team split a pair of one-run games against Marian in a doubleheader on Friday.

The Lancers won the opener 3-2 before dropping the second game 5-4 in extra innings.

Grace and Marian will complete the four-game series on Saturday with another doubleheader in Indianapolis, starting at 1 p.m.

The first game was a pitchers’ duel. The teams had five hits apiece in the nine-inning game with Grace winning the game late.

Jake Decker started the game and largely kept Marian at bay. Decker pitched six innings and allowed just two runs — one in the first and one in the sixth.

Grace kept pace by plating two runs in the bottom of the second. Jeff Pawlik and Isaiah Herbster hit back-to-back singles with two outs, and Dalton Turner’s double brought in both players.

The score remained knotted 2-2 until the final innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Grace scored the go-ahead run.

Jaron Mullet led off the inning and reached base on an error, and Sam Newkirk laced a double to right field to put Grace ahead 3-2.

Grace’s relief pitchers took care of the rest. Hunter Schumacher pitched a clean stint of relief in the seventh and eighth innings. The Knights did not have a hit against Schumacher, and he struck out two.

Houston Haney entered in the top of the ninth and tossed a scoreless inning to earn the save.

In game two, the Lancers began the game with a lead. Grace scored two in the first inning and eventually pulled ahead 4-1 after four innings.

The Lancers struggled in the field in the fifth inning, allowing the Knights to tie the game with three runs (two unearned).

Neither side could score in the sixth and seventh, sending the game to extra innings.

Marian scored another unearned run in the top of the eighth to take the lead. Turner reached second base with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but a potential rally ended with a strikeout.

Evan Etchison started the game and went seven innings, allowing four hits and four runs with seven strikeouts.

Chris Griffin batted 2 for 4 with a run scored, and Turner had 1 run, 1 hit, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base.

Manchester Softball 13, Wawasee 3

The Lady Warriors saw a lead dissolve quickly Friday evening at Manchester.

Wawasee took a 3-1 lead after RBIs from Ari Garcia and Kiaundra Olson, but that lead was cut in half to 3-2, and Manchester then blew the game wide open in the fourth with six runs on strength of a Madison Parson double, a Paxton Baker triple and Kaidyn Howard homer, the bomb a two-run shot to make it 8-3. Manchester wouldn’t look back, adding five more runs in the fifth to close the game out.

Olivia Stuck added two hits for the Warriors (0-5-1), who were otherwise held in check by Howard, who didn’t give up an earned run in the contest.

Tippecanoe Valley Softball 20, Plymouth 3

A night after being shut out, Valley responded in a big way against the visiting Pilgrims.

Corinna Stiles was a homer short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with four runs driven in and three runs scored. Kayleena Agnew added two hits and three RBI and Molly Moriarty had a triple and four runs scored.

Abby Bowers worked all five innings in the circle, striking out eight for the complete game win as the Vikings move to 4-1 on the season.