PLYMOUTH – It only took an hour and a half but Tim Tremaine gave his team a week’s worth of confidence in taking a workmanlike win at Bill Nixon Field Friday as Plymouth defeated Warsaw by a 5-1 final.
Tremaine had an outstanding first varsity start even though dropping a 1-0 decision to St. Joe and proved it was no fluke taking just 72 pitches to dispense with the Tigers and get his first varsity win. Tremaine allowed just four base runners after the first and went the distance to give his team a shot in the arm as they face a run of nine games in the next 10 days.
“(Assistant coach Brent) Corbett mentioned to me after the game that he loves calling pitches for Timmy because he throws all his pitches for strikes,” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Wolfe. “He works fast, the defense is all behind him on their toes. Tonight we had some fantastic defensive plays behind him. Everyone is engaged. And when you are throwing strikes batters can’t take any pitches off.”
Over a week ago Tremaine had defending state champ St. Joe off balance for seven innings and did no less to Warsaw as he was ahead of hitters in nearly every at bat and struck out five while walking none.
“When you’re ahead all the time you get the hitter guessing and that’s why it’s easy to call pitches for him,” said Wolfe. “It’s fun to watch for the fans, it’s fun to watch as a coach.”
It also involves your fielders and Tremaine was the beneficiary of some outstanding defense from his team mates as Jesus (Chuy) Luva was outstanding at third base, Cam Dennie showed his prowess around the bag at second saving two double plays on the night and right fielder Cole Filson turned what could have been a great start to an inning into an out at second base cutting down Warsaw’s Joe Wilkinson trying to stretch a single into a double in the third inning.
“Chuy made some great plays at third and with Timmy pitching your third baseman is going to have some balls hit at him,” said Wolfe. “We had two double plays tonight, two great turns by Cam (Dennie) at second and that ball that Cole had was smoked right at him and at this time of night if you are out there the sun is right in your eyes and he hasn’t played out there until tonight. Just all around a great defensive game.”
The offense again was up to the task a big reason being the continued aggression on the base paths by Plymouth base runners. The Pilgrims had four stolen bases and put pressure on the Warsaw defense with their speed out of the box on every ball in play. While Warsaw put up the first run, for the second night in a row Jacob Deacon game up with a two out RBI single.
“One through nine in our lineup can hit the ball hard,” said Wolfe. “To get that run back in the first inning and then get two in the second really set the tone. They made a few errors but we put pressure on them the way we get down the line. It’s something that we take pride in putting pressure on them making them rush a throw and sometimes that’s off line.”
Even bigger is a second game with a Plymouth starter going deep or completing a game and keeping arms fresh for the coming seven game challenge.
“We have guys in the bullpen but to be able to keep them in the bullpen and not have to use them,” said Wolfe, “We are right where we need to be. Right now Chuy and Tim and Cole are our starters at this point and we have a fresh bullpen with guys ready to do their job whenever called upon.”
They may be called upon soon as the Pilgrims (4-2) will be at LaPorte on Saturday for a single game and then come home on Monday to resume the NLC grind with a game against Goshen.
•PLYMOUTH 5, WARSAW 1
at Bill Nixon Field
Warsaw 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-6-3
Plymouth 1 2 0 2 0 0 x 5-8-0
WP – Tremaine (1-1). LP – Bowers. 2B – Hawley (W), Dennie (P).
