Greenwood’s Josh Miller, left, gets the out on Whiteland’s Caden Wilburn during Tuesday’s county tournament game.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Whiteland continued its heavy run production on Tuesday night.
The Warriors hit (and also walked) their way to a 12-2 win over Greenwood in the first round of the Johnson County baseball tournament.
Whiteland now faces host Center Grove in a 1 p.m. semifinal on Saturday.
The game was supposed to be played at Greenwood’s home park, but a wet field prompted the change to Center Grove; the Warriors and Woodmen got off to a late start, as the two teams had to wait for the Trojans to finish off Edinburgh first.
But all that didn’t matter to the Warriors, who took advantage of a rough night for Greenwood’s pitchers and fielders.
Coming off two games in which it scored nine and 16 runs, Whiteland (4-0) continued its scoring bonanza in almost every conceivable way — timely hits, walks, errors, passed balls and wild pitches.
Greenwood had five errors, a baserunning mistake that led to an inning-ending out and a startling 12 walks, three wild pitches and two passed balls. Not a good recipe for victory. But Whiteland still did plenty of damage on its own.
It started in the third inning with the Warriors up a run, 1-0. Greenwood starting pitcher Cade Kelly walked four straight Warriors in the third, leading to two runs. Relief pitcher Luke Fiesel didn’t fare better when he came on in the fourth, as three more walks, an infield RBI single by Drew Helton and two wild pitches increased the lead to what turned out to be an insurmountable one for the Woodmen.
That was enough for Helton, who kept the Woodmen hitters off balance with his pitches. Greenwood could only muster one hit after the third inning and three in all.
Junior Ethan Shipp had a big night, leading Whiteland with three hits and coming up only a home run short of the cycle. Shipp also had a stolen base and two RBIs.
Helton also had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs to help his cause. He pitched five innings before Caden Wilburn came in to mop up.
Freshman Maalik Perkins used his legs to help beat the Woodmen, scoring four times, hitting a single and making a running catch at the warning track in left center field that prevented a certain double and any chance for the Woodmen to catch fire.
“This was a long, slow game,” Whiteland coach Scott Sherry said. “Drew pitched a nice game, throwing strikes and we did just enough on offense and took advantage of their walks.”
Greenwood (1-1) got two singles from Josh Miller.
