The importance of winning a pair of games during Saturday’s doubleheader may extend beyond the obvious.While gaining confidence heading into this weekend’s Class 4 District 7 Tournament was crucial, it could have also been the Warriors’ last live action of the regular season with the forecast looking rather imposing.“It was nice to get a doubleheader in over the weekend when the weather was nice, knowing this week could get kind of wet,” said Coach Eric Burle.The Warriors swept Elsberry, winning the first game 6-2 and inflicting the mercy rule in the second with a 14-4 rout.Warrenton collected 12 hits during the opener, while Ben Stephens started on the mound, striking out seven and walking three through a full seven innings.The Warriors opened their scoring in the second inning with Stephens reaching home.“We had some opportunities and didn’t capitalize early on,” said Burle. “Eventually we were able to get a few runs in.”Dallas Johnson hammered a solo home run and Brandon Moeller added another run in the third, before Warrenton suffered two scoreless innings.Burle says facing a much slower pitcher than during the previous game took some adjustment.“It took us about half of the first game to get dialed in,” said Burle.Lead-off hitters Hunter Russell and Hunter Capstick tacked on the fourth and fifth runs in the sixth, and Stephens scored again in the seventh.Stephens went 4 for 4 with four singles.“Beyond Ben and Dallas, we were pretty spread out up and down the lineup,” said Burle.Warrenton’s bats intensified in the second game, and the Warriors were able to use several different pitchers in the pressure-free circumstance.Airk Rader started on the mound, giving up two hits through three innings.Russell opened a barrage of scoring in the first inning, as Johnson also reached home.The Warriors scored twice again in the second inning, before unloading nine runs in a productive fourth inning. Warrenton used nine hits, including two doubles by Will Reese and another by Capstick.Russell finished 3 for 4 with three singles, while Moeller was 2 for 4 with a double.The Warriors will open the district tournament on Saturday against North Tech at Winfield.Burle says pitching and defense have been the strengths of this year’s team, but Warrenton has several players with impressive batting numbers.“Outside the first couple weeks of the season, our pitching and defense has been pretty solid,” said Burle. “Brandon and Ben have hit their stride recently.”Moeller leads the team with a .456 average, having collected 31 hits and 16 RBIs.Sophomore Hunter Capstick had been one of the most consistent hitters as well, batting .448 with 30 base knocks.Hunter Russell, Dallas Johnson and Ben Stephens are each batting .338 or better. Johnson has been a reliable extra-base hitter with 11 doubles.“We’ve been able to have some timely hits throughout a number of our games,” said Burle. “It’s helped us come from behind or separate ourselves on a couple of occasions.”WARRIORS WIN TWODerrick Forsythe Photo.