Adam Howe
Sports Editor
The Warsaw Wildcats earned a share of the 2022 Ozark Highlands Conference championship with a 13-0 road win over the Eldorado Springs Bulldogs last Thursday. They share the honor with Buffalo, who finished with the same 6-1 conference record.
Warsaw scored 1 in the first inning off of an error and added 4 more runs in the top of the second off of RBI hits by Garrett Ferguson, James Kellner and Kendall Bagley.
Two more runs in the third inning made it 7-0 before the Wildcats erupted for 6 in the fourth frame to put things out of reach with a 13-0 lead.
Kellner led off the big inning when he got hit by pitch. Bagley was walked in the next at-bat two pitches later, Kellner would score off of a steal of third that drew a throw that ended up in left field. He trotted home and Bagley moved to third. Bagley would be driven in when his brother, Nick, singled on a 3-1 count. Gage Whitaker followed with another single and then, with 2 outs, Ferguson tripled to score Bradley Watson (running for N. Bagley) and Whitaker. Colton Harding came in to run for Ferguson and he scored when Brady Slavens took a 2-2 pitch deep to left field for a 2-run homer to make it 13-0.
Hidden the offensive onslaught was the fact that two Warsaw freshmen pitchers combined to throw the 1-hit shutout of the Bulldogs. Ferguson toed the rubber to start the game. He lasted 4.0 innings, allowed 0 runs on 1 hit and struck out 5. The younger Bagley came in for the fifth inning and gave up 0 runs on 0 hits and sat down 2 opposing batters.
The Wildcats racked up 12 hits in the contest. Both Bagley's, Whitaker, Tayten Boyer and Ferguson all tallied 2 hits apiece in the win. Slavens and Jayce Depriest each had 1 hit for Warsaw.
Kendall Bagley and Whitaker both had 2 stolen bases for Warsaw while Kellner had 1.
The Wildcats will now turn their focus to district competition where, by press time for the Benton County Enterprise, they will have take on Cole Camp on Tuesday night.
Results for all Class 3 District 13 games will be available in next week's edition of the newspsaper.
