The Warrenton Warriors used a strong pitching performance from ace Ben Peth and consistent traffic on the basepaths to beat  conference foe Winfield Friday. 

Warrenton (5-7) avenged a loss to Winfield earlier last week to move to 3-1 in GAC North play. Peth pitched into the seventh inning and only surrendered one earned run in the win. 

“I think I could have thrown a few more strikes, been more efficient,” Peth said. “But I did the job. Got ground balls when we needed them.”

Warrenton grabbed an early lead in the first inning and never trailed in the game. Catcher Austin Haas led off the bottom of the first inning with a single. He advanced to second on Caleb Clark’s fielder’s choice groundout. Haas scored later in the inning on a pair of wild pitches. 

The Warriors added two runs in the third inning. Mason Thompson and Keegan Mellegaard scored on Kannon Hibbs’ ground ball with two outs in the inning. Hibbs reached base on an error. 

“The big thing was really the bottom of the order had some huge at bats with getting on base, getting some bunts down,” Warrenton head coach Eric Burle said. “That was huge. Not only does it obviously score runs, but it helps turn the bottom of the order to get to the top of the order. We put a lot of pressure on them.”

Peth pitched into and out of jams in both the fourth and fifth innings to preserve Warrenton’s lead. Peth put the first two runners on in the fourth inning on a hit by pitch and a walk. After surrendering an RBI single with one out, Peth retired Peter Nicholl and Cooper Martin to preserve Warrenton’s 3-1 lead. 

After Warrenton scored a run in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 4-1, Peth once again put a couple runners on base to start the fifth inning. He induced a double play to log the first two outs of the inning. After a two-out walk put runners on first and third, Peth induced a groundout to end the inning. 

“He came back out and kind of put himself in a little bit of a pickle by hitting the first two those back-to-back innings where he hit the leadoff batter,” Burle said. “But he was able to pitch around it and we were able to make some plays behind him too.”

Peth finished one out short of a complete game. He threw 6 2/3 innings and surrendered one earned run. He scattered five hits and three walks over the outing. He struck out seven Winfield batters. 

Warrenton added two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to seize control of the GAC North clash. Clark led off the fifth inning with a single and scored on Hibbs’ RBI single. Hibbs scored later in the inning on a wild pitch. The Warriors  added two sixth inning runs on RBI singles from Clark and Tyler Oliver. 

Peth got the first two outs of the seventh inning. Hibbs got the last out of the game on a groundout to move Warrenton to 3-1 in GAC North play. 

“It was big,” Peth said. “We split with them last year too. This game, we were all just ready to come at them.”

The win came three days after Warrenton’s 2-1 loss at Winfield. Warrenton took a 1-0 lead in that game before surrendering two runs in the fourth inning in the loss. Oliver pitched six innings for Warrenton in the loss. Both runs scored in the game were unearned runs. Burle noted Oliver’s strong pitching performance in the loss. 

“We had the early lead and then defensively, we had one tough inning where they scored two runs,” Burle said. “I wasn’t unhappy with our effort in that game. We had a chance to win both games and at least we came away with a split and played really well today.”

Warrenton beat St. Charles 18-15 Tuesday to move to 4-1 in conference games. Warrenton was scheduled to host St. Charles Wednesday.