Jake Kirkpatrick didn’t have the most comfortable of starts on the mound for the Warrenton baseball team on Saturday.

He allowed three straight singles to allow Wright City to score a run in the bottom of the first inning.

Good thing for the junior, he and his teammates had staked him with three runs and would offer up plenty more offense in the Warriors’ 15-1, five-inning win.

“Our bats came alive in this game,” Kirkpatrick said. “The first week of the season, we struggled, but we’ve been hitting well the last few games. I seem to struggle in the first inning at times, but my defense made plays. We executed as a team.”

Things could have been much worse, though, as Wright City had the bases loaded and one out in the inning before Kirkpatrick settled in and allowed just one run in the inning.

Wright City Coach Cody Bair lamented the missed chances to cut into the early Warrenton lead.

“Not scoring more in the first inning certainly mattered, especially in a game where we fell behind the way we did,” Bair said. “We did a good job early of putting pressure on and creating opportunities, but we will continue to work on capitalizing in those moments.”

From there, Warrenton (4-3) scored in each inning to increase its 3-1 lead, including a five-run fifth to cap off the win.

Nine Warriors drove in runs. Kirkpatrick drove in a pair, along with sophomore Tate Aulgur, freshman Jaxson King and junior Keeton Young.

Young’s two-run double in the top of the third not only made the score 7-1, but it was the biggest hit of the game as Warrenton as the Warriors’ 15-hit attack featured 13 singles, a run-scoring double by King and the two-run hit by Young.

Warriors Coach Eric Burle said that Warrenton, which has now outscored Wright City 69-8 in the team’s last five games – all Warriors’ wins, is rounding into form at the plate after suffering a pair of shutout losses in the first week of the season.

“We’re pretty young and inexperienced and these guys have seen pitching now for four or five games,” Burle said. “We faced some pretty good arms through the first few games, which makes a difference. It seems like we’re taking a better approach at the plate with a little more confidence. Some younger guys got their feet wet, so that’s a good part of that.”

Kirkpatrick earned the win for Warrenton as he scattered seven hits over four innings of work.

Kolby Bass suffered the loss for Wright City.

“Jake’s biggest thing is that he’s always throwing strikes, he’s always around the zone,” Burle said. “As long as we’re playing good defense behind him, good things are going to happen.”

The victory was the second straight double-digit output for Warrenton after beating Hazelwood West 14-4 earlier in the week.

WARRENTON 4, HANNIBAL 2 (9 INN.) – The Warriors improved to 5-3 on the season with a subsequent 4-2 win over district opponent Hannibal. Kirkpatrick opened the scoring for Warrenton with a first-inning RBI single.

After Hannibal scored two runs, Warrenton tied the game with a run in the sixth and won the game with a pair of ninth-inning runs. Once again, Kirkpatrick was a central figure in the win, first driving in the go-ahead run and then scoring on a hit by Aulgur.

Young earned the win in the second game and junior Ric Standley earned the save.