By Steve Krah
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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ELKHART — A well-placed hit and well-pitched game by Elkhart Memorial junior Matt Kloss helped the Crimson Chargers blank Warsaw 1-0 Monday, May 2 in Northern Lakes Conference baseball at Elkhart Memorial’s Charger Field. 

Kloss, who bats left-handed, produced what amounted to a swinging bunt to knock in junior Brett Wilson (on base by error) from third base with the game’s only run in the bottom of the second inning for Memorial (6-9, 4-3). 

After Wilson reached base, the Chargers loaded the bases as sophomore Jordan Siddons and sophomore Nolan Grose followed with singles to left. 

Kloss then hit a ball about a third of the way up the line and inches fair to plate Wilson. 

As a left-hander pitcher, Kloss (2-2; 7 innings, 0 runs, 7 hits, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks) retired the lead-off man in all but the fourth inning and helped Warsaw (7-6, 5-2) to strand seven baserunners, including one at third in the sixth inning. 

“Matt threw pretty well last Wednesday against NorthWood and I saw signs of improvement,” Memorial coach Scott Rost said. “Today, he was really solid. 

“Earlier in the year, he wasn’t making an adjustment and getting back in the groove. That’s what he did today. (Senior) Lane (Schultz), our catcher, has been doing a real good job of working with him as well.” 

With one out, junior Henry Howard singled to center and went to third on a error and fielder’s choice by junior Braxton Tennant. 

But Howard went no further when Howard was out trying to take second and Blake Foreman grounded out to end the inning. 

Tigers junior right-hander Jordan Jones (3-1; 6 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 0 strikeouts, 0 walks) tossed his team’s fourth consecutive complete game. He set down the first batter in all seven frames and allowed a total of five singles.  

“It was infortunate we couldn’t scratch a run across for Jordan Jones,” Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said. “He pitched a great game. He didn’t have his best stuff, but kept us close. He kept them off-balance. 

“It’s unfortunate. He deserved a better fate. It’s one of those things.” 

Jones retired the side in order in the first, fourth and sixth innings. Memorial left four runners for the game and three of those came in the second inning. 

“(Jones) did a great job of keeping us off-balance,” Rost said. “We didn’t perform well at the plate. Give him credit because we had a chance to get after him in that (second) inning with the bases loaded and one out. 

“It’s good for us to play good baseball. We can improve our swings, but when we’re throwing strikes and playing solid defense, that’s a good sign to me.” 

Senior Zach Witt, batting in the No. 2 hole, went 3-of-3 for Warsaw. The Tigers wound up with seven hits (all singles). 

“We just didn’t swing the bats particularly well today,” Hepler said. “I’ve got to credit (Kloss) a lot for that. He came right at us and was aggressive.” 

Memorial stopped a three-game losing streak while Warsaw saw a three-game win skein snapped. 

“Last Wednesday, we gave up a ton of free bases to NorthWood and just didn’t play well,” Rost said. “We played two of our best games of the years Friday (in a 2-0 NLC loss to Northridge) and Saturday (in a 5-4 non-conference loss to Penn). Today, we only gave up one free base with the error we had (in the sixth inning).” 

Memorial goes to Plymouth and Warsaw visits Wawasee, both Wednesday, May 4.