The No. 22 UW-Whitewater baseball team opened the season with a split against the No. 19 Trinity (Texas) Tigers, with both squads winning two games. Trinity came into the game with an unbeaten record but saw their first two losses of the season come in the first two games against the Warhawks, who came into the series with an aura of excitement.
“We’ve been grinding together for months on months, preparing for our shot to show the world what we can accomplish,” junior infielder Darryl Jackson said.
The Warhawks outscored the Tigers in the first two games by a combined score of 35-5. In the first game, Sam Paden hit two home runs for the Warhawks, one in the third and one in the seventh, with the homers bringing in a combined three runs for Whitewater. The Warhawks posted an impressive ninth inning, with four runs being scored, to push them to their first victory of the season by a score of 14-3.
In the second game of the series, the Warhawks started out hot, scoring five in the first two innings, before the Tigers scored two in the third. Unfortunately for Trinity, that was all the scoring they would do for that game, as the Warhawks kept making contact with pitches, scoring an astronomical 21 runs in the game, including a grand slam by Aaron Holland in the eighth inning.
After an exciting first two games, the Warhawks were finding their groove, not only on the diamond but within themselves too.
“We proved that we could be a great team,” Jackson explained. “We learned through the series that each and every one of us is part of this big family that is ready to go to war for each other through thick and thin.”
In the second game of the double-header, held Friday, the teams traded scores in the first and third innings, with the game tied at three apiece heading into the fourth, where the Warhawks took the lead with Jackson reaching home. In the seventh inning, the Tigers hit a grand slam of their own, giving Trinity a one-run advantage that shortly reached two with another RBI.
At the top of the ninth, the Warhawks were down by two when Eli Frank hit one to right field, getting Dominik McVay back home. The Warhawks were unable to tack more runs on and fell short in the third game, losing by one.
In the fourth and final contest of the weekend, both teams started slow until Trinity got the scoring started in the bottom of the third with a one-run homer. Things heated up for the Tigers as they scored five in the sixth inning, including two two-run homers. Matt Scolan hit a home run of his own in the seventh inning, but Trinity came right back in the eighth with three more runs.
In the four games, Frank and Scolan led the Warhawks with eight hits and RBIs apiece. Scolan and Paden each hit two home runs in the four-game series.
It was an up-and-down weekend for the first weekend out for the Warhawks, who are eager to learn from these four games before they head down to Florida in the coming weeks.
“Coach said great players make game-to-game adjustments, and that’s what we will be trying to do the rest of the season,” said Jackson, who had six runs, three hits, and two RBIs on the weekend. “We learned that if we just enjoy the game and have fun, we play great as a group.”
The Warhawks will take their spring trip to Pensacola, Florida, where they will play eight total games.
