Warriors and Falcons Battle

The Tigers took on the Falcons of Indian Hills in a split series on Saturday, April 6 and Monday, April 8. The two teams proved to be fairly evenly matched throughout the series with the teams splitting 1-1 each day and 2-2 for the series.

Game 1

Game one started out as a back and forth battle with the two teams feeling out the starting pitchers.

After a scoreless first inning, the Tigers got on the board first. Tyler Coleman started the inning off with a single into center field on a 2-2 count. The next batter, Luis Menendez flied out to center to bring up Ryan Carter. The third baseman, Carter, launched a 3-1 fastball to left-center for a two run homerun to put the Tigers up 2-0. The next two batters, Kole Jurgens and Reece Blay each struck out swinging to end the top half of the inning.

The Falcons responded in the bottom of the second with a single run after the first two batters reached base. Tigers' starting pitcher, Diego Almonte, was able to work around the two hits and escape the inning with the Tigers still leading, 2-1.

Wyatt Wendall was on the bump for the Falcons and settled in after the two-run second. The Falcons' hurler sat the Tigers down in order in in the third and looked comfortable for the remainder of the game as he gave up only one more hit, one walk, and one hit batter. Those runners were spread out and Wendall held the Tigers to two runs in the game.

Almonte didn't fare as well for the Tigers. After a scoreless third, the Falcons scored two in the fourth and six in the fifth before the Tigers could record an out. Jimmy Kurka then entered for the Tigers and retired the next three Falcons in order.

But the damage had been done and the Falcons cruised to a 9-2 victory.

Game 2

Game two featured David Davilla VS Luis Rivera on the mound.

The game started on high note for the Tigers as Candido Encarnacion took a full-count pitch to deep left-center for a leadoff homerun and put the road team up 1-0.

The Tigers added three runs in the third inning as they chased Rivera from the game. The inning was highlighted by a two-run homer courtesy of Tom Josten which scored Encarnacion who led the inning off with a double. Travon Hughes added the third run of the inning after he walked and stole second and was driven in by a Luis Menendez single.

Meanwhile, Davilla was cruising. Through five innings, Davilla had allowed just one hit, had hit two batters, walked one, but most importantly… hadn't given up any runs.

Davilla came out and started the sixth inning, but didn't last long. Soren Graversen led the bottom of the sixth off with a solo shot and Cooper Huckabone followed that up with a double. The next batter, Juan Silva, walked and Jimmy Kurka came in to replace Davilla.

Kurka walked the first batter he faced, before striking out Jay Hester. Jacob Kristisen then singled to score Huckabone for the second run attributed to Davilla. Kurka then retired Brady Nowicki and Jet Weber to get the Tigers out of the inning holding on to a 5-2 lead.

After the Tigers went scoreless in the top of the seventh, Raymond Collazo entered for the Tigers and earned the save by working a clean bottom of the seventh and the Tigers claimed game two 5-2.

Game 3

Game three saw a great pitching performance by Omar Vigil through the first four innings. Through four innings, the Falcons' hurler surrendered just one hit and one walk. By the time the Tigers came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, they were trailing 5-0.

The Tigers were able to cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Luis Menendez hit a solo shot off of Vigil. Nick Hagan singled two batters later to put a runner on with two outs, but Reece Blay struck out swinging to end the inning and the Tigers trailed 5-1.

Jake Everaert, who stated on the mound for the Tigers, was still in the game and worked a clean sixth inning to keep the Tigers within striking distance. But Vigil also worked a clean sixth to keep the score at 5-1.

The top of the seventh was a nightmare for the Tigers. Everaert went back to the mound to start the seventh, and walked the first two batters. After inducing a 4-3 groundout, the Tigers looked to be primed to minimize the damage as Jet Weber hit a ground ball to the shortstop. But an E6 allowed Weber to reach base and two runs to score.

Everaert then got another groundout before hitting Soren Graversen and walking Matthew Moon. The Tigers turned to the bullpen and the Falcons took advantage. By the time the top of the seventh had ended, the Falcons scored six runs on just two hits.

The Tigers responded with three runs of their own in the seventh, but the effort came up short as the Falcons took game three of the series, 11-4.

Game 4

The Tigers sent ace, Walter Hernandez, to the mound in game four. The sophomore matched up with Tyler Coleman was plunked and Luis Menendez scored Berggeron with a double. After a Candido Encarnacion strikeout, Nick Hagen singled in Coleman and Menendez to open up a 3-0 lead.

The Tigers added two runs in the bottom of the second as Julio Sanchez, Reece Blay, and Tom Josten strung together singles. Following a strikeout by Berggeron, the Falcons' third baseman committed a costly error that allowed a second run to score in the inning. After two, the Tigers led 5-0.

Indian Hills eventually got to Hernandez in the fourth and fifth innings as they scored four runs before Hernandez was replaced by Jacob Medcalf one out into the fifth. The Tigers kept hitting themselves though and scored five runs in the fourth and fifth innings combined.

Medcalf rolled on the mound and held the Falcons scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings and the Tigers took game four, 10-4.