Warsaw’s Brandon Shipp gets some words of wisdom from assistant coach Nate Howett Saturday at the sectional.

ELKHART – The Warsaw baseball team had a week to prepare for sectional play after receiving a bye.

The Tigers turned a great week of practice into an outstanding effort on the field Saturday to say bye-bye to Northridge.

A focused, energetic and opportunistic Warsaw squad sidelined the Raiders 7-3 in a semifinal clash at the Class 4-A Elkhart Memorial Sectional.

The Tigers, who improve to 11-15, will face Concord (14-15) Monday night back at Memorial at 6 p.m. for the sectional title and a spot in the LaPorte Regional June 7.

Kevin Hawley collected the pitching win for the Tigers.

Concord defeated Elkhart Memorial 7-2 in the first semifinal game Saturday. Junior Brenden Curry fired a two-hitter on the hill and had two hits and three RBI to lead the Minutemen to the win.

Warsaw split versus the Minutemen in regular-season Northern Lakes Conference play. The Tigers won 7-1 on May 2 at Concord, while Concord claimed a 5-3 victory on May 19 at Warsaw.

“We had a great week of practice,” said Warsaw coach Mike Hepler following the win Saturday. “I credit our seniors for stepping up. We focused on having a good mental approach and a lot of energy today and I thought we did.”

The Tigers, who beat Northridge 2-1 on April 30 and then lost 10-0 to the Raiders on May 16, took control with a five-run third inning after spotting Northridge a 1-0 lead in the third.

Dean Katris digs in at the dish. The senior had two hits in a 7-3 sectional win.

Warsaw, which had lost 11 of its final 13 games in the regular season, got an RBI single in the pivotal frame from leadoff hitter Justin Oberlin to tie the game at 1-1. Tyler LaFollette then cracked a huge two-run double to left to make it 3-1 and Brandon Shipp smacked a key two-run single to extend the lead to 5-1. The Tigers got both clutch hits with two outs after having a hitter called out earlier in the inning for interference after his backswing at the plate hit the Northridge catcher.

“That inning was huge for us,” said Hepler. “The call was the correct one and then our guys stepped up and got key hits that we needed to have. It was really nice to see that positive outcome for us.”

The Raiders, who finish at 16-12, scored single runs in the fourth and fifth. Warsaw added a run in the fourth on another RBI single by Oberlin and put an exclamation point in the sixth with a run on  a perfect squeeze bunt by Oberlin.

Reliever Tyler LaFollette reacts after shutting down Northridge.

“The game is a blur, but they left a lot of runners on base and that was big for us,” said Hepler. “We got some key defensive efforts when we needed them. The kids executed what we practiced. We knew Northridge was going to score. We just needed to minimize the damage and we did.”

Kevin Hawley collected the pitching win for the Tigers. The junior righthander worked the first four innings and kept the Raiders off balance nicely with off speed pitches early in the count. Junior Tyler LaFollette worked the final three innings, getting a 4-3 double play to end a Raider threat in the fifth after he relieved Hawley during the frame.

“Kevin did a really nice job today,” Hepler noted. “Earlier, they burned us with a lot or first pitch fastballs. Today he threw his off speed stuff early.”

Oberlin, one of eight seniors, had an outstanding offensive day. The shortstop had two hits, the effective squeeze bunt and drove in three runs.  Senior Dean Katris had two hits for the Tigers.

Junior Sam Troyer and sophomore Matt Miller each had two hits for the Raiders, who will lose four seniors. Northridge left nine runners on base in the loss.

Warsaw shortstop Justin Oberlin talks with third baseman Caleb Heckaman.

“It’s about us on Monday,” said Hepler of also playing NLC foe Concord for the third time this season.  “Concord is very athletic and aggressive. We have not seen DeFreese (Concord pitcher Nick DeFreese), but we have to be ready for him.

“But, it’s about us. It’s about our energy and our focus. Today we had it.”

They sure did.