PREP BASEBALL: Brooks, Salazar lead Wawasee past Lakeland in sectional opener
May 28—SYRACUSE — Wawasee junior pitcher Grant Brooks carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning as his Warriors beat Lakeland, 8-1, in Class 3A, Sectional 21 play Thursday evening at Wawasee High School.
Wawasee (16-12) advances to the sectional semifinal, where they'll play Jimtown (12-11) Saturday at 10 a.m. The second semifinal is NorthWood (19-6) against West Noble (2-22).
Brooks struck out nine Laker batters, allowing just two hits on back-to-back plate appearances with one out in the sixth inning. Brooks also kept his pitch count below 100, meaning he could come back in pitch in the sectional championship game Monday should the Warriors advance that far.
"He was really on top of his game," said Wawasee coach Brent Doty of Brooks. "He's pitched like that throughout the season; he's been dialed-in and locked-in like that all season. It's a testament to him. He puts in a lot of work, gets after it. He was lights out (Thursday)."
Wawasee's offense backed up Brooks throughout the game, primarily off the bat of Kameron Salazar. The senior shortstop went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and scoring all three times he reached base. Salazar has been having a tremendous final season for the Warriors, including a recent selection to play in the Indiana North-South All Star Game this summer.
"The top of our lineup has been really solid all year," Doty said. "(Salazar) just gets on, and it seems like he scores every time he gets on base. He's a North-South All Star for a reason ... he can spray it all over the field and his hands are quick. He's a good baseball player."
Speed also played a factor, as Wawasee stole seven bases in the game. Their first run also came when senior Parker Young scored from second base on a wild pitch, taking advantage of the ample space between home plate and the backstop at Wawasee's baseball field.
"We had picked up a couple of things from Saturday — it's nice playing the team you're going to play," Doty said. "We were going to be a little aggressive (Thursday), and, obviously, it paid off for us."
What Doty was referencing was that this was the second time in five days Lakeland and Wawasee had played each other. The Warriors led the Lakers 14-7 through five innings, only for Lakeland to storm back and win 15-14 in an eight-inning thriller.
Doty was pleased with how his team responded after the tough loss to Lakeland less than a week ago.
"We wanted to work deep counts, score some runs early and put the pressure back on them so we can take care of business," Doty said.
Lakeland's lone run came in the sixth inning on an RBI groundout from junior Jensen Miller.
The Lakers' season ends with a 6-21 record.
"Next year starts Tuesday; we talked about that," said Lakeland coach Michael Isaacs was part of his message after the game. "We've already got some of our summer games lined up. Everybody's worried about if they're going to get to play, and that kind of stuff. We just talked about that you earn that in the summer, lifting weights and coming to stuff. ... We're losing five seniors, four that were playing and that were carrying us for most of the year."
Wawasee now prepares for a Jimtown team they lost to, 12-10, back on April 24. Although the game was a consolation game of the Wawasee Invitational, Doty thinks the experience against the Jimmies can be valuable.
"I think that's a reason why they want to be in the invitational, and I think that's why (Tippecanoe Valley) wants to be in: so we can all kind of play each other and kind of pick up a few tendencies," Doty said. "Yeah, I think there's some stuff that plays into it. We'll go back and look at the scouting reports we had from them and try to formulate a game plan.
"You just get ready to play. You take care of your own guys — we're going to take care of ourselves, be ready to go ourselves and give us an opportunity to win."
Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.
