It was clear Monday that Washington was ready to put its preseason problems behind it and get out on the baseball diamond. A 12-hit attack and solid pitching gave the Warriors 5-4 win over Marion in the opening round of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament at Xavier.

Sam Kacena led the way for the Warriors collecting four hits in as many at bats and driving in two runs. Zach Zingula had two RBI singles and Dan White two hits and an RBI.

“It feels great to win,” said Kacena.  “We have had a little adversity, and it feels good to get off to a good start.  I hit pretty well last year, but had no idea I would get off to this fast of a start this year.  All we have to do is keep our focus.”

The adversity Kacena referred to was a change of coaches that happened one day into practice. Byron Schlotterback asked for a leave of absence and then resigned. Assistant coach Brent Henry is the interim coach. Also, the Warriors' top pitcher, Dakota Freese, is suspended for the Warriors' first seven games for a violation of school rules.

It was a tight game all the way.  With the score tied 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning, Kacena led off with a double and was replaced at second by courtesy runner Robert Hogg, who promptly stole third base for his third stolen base of the game. Two batters later, Zingula delivered his second RBI single to put Washington up 4-3.

“I just try to do my job to help the team win,” said Zingula.  “We just have to block everything out, keep our same goal, and do our jobs.  It was good to get a win.”

In the top of the seventh, Kacena delivered a critical RBI single that plated White and put the Warriors up 5-3.

Marion had some hitting stars as well.  Kasey Semler and Addison Johnson each collected three hits and Andrew Charipar had a triple, home run and two RBI.

For Marion, its seemed like a night of missed opportunities and bad timing.  With the bases loaded in the first and none out the Indians only managed one run.  Again in the sixth, they had runners on second and third with no outs and failed to score. Charipar’s homer in the seventh came right after the Indians had a runner picked off first base.

Mike Troendle garnered the win for the Warriors, scattering eight hits in five innings. Zingula closed the game out giving up only one hit in two innings.

Cale Cannoy took the complete game loss for Marion.

Washington plays Xavier, a 9-5 winner over Linn-Mar, Tuesday night in a semifinal game scheduled to start at 7. Marion plays Linn-Mar at 5 in a consolation round game.

Washington Warriors 5 (1-0)                   Marion Indians 4 (0-1)

Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
Jordy Brown cf/lf..........  4  1  1  0       Kasey Semler 1b............  4  1  3  1
Noah Dostal 3b/2b..........  4  0  1  0       Mitch Wagner 3b............  4  0  0  0
Dan White ss...............  3  1  2  1       Zach Nielsen ss............  3  1  1  0
AJ Puk 1b..................  4  0  1  0       Andrew Charipar cf.........  2  1  2  2
Cole Rhatigan dh/3b........  3  1  1  0       Trev Biery dh..............  4  0  0  0
Sam Kacena c...............  4  0  4  2       Dusty Albaugh rf...........  3  0  0  0
Robert Hogg ph............  0  2  0  0       Addison Johnson c..........  4  0  3  0
Grant Dostal rf............  3  0  0  0        Christian Stekl ph........  0  1  0  0
Zach Zingula 2b/p..........  3  0  2  2       Byron Fish lf..............  3  0  0  0
Mike Troendle p/cf.........  3  0  0  0       Joshua Davila 2b...........  3  0  0  0
Jacob Hand lf..............  0  0  0  0       Cale Cannoy p..............  0  0  0  0
Totals..................... 31  5 12  5       Totals..................... 30  4  9  3

Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
Washington Warriors. 100 201 1 -  5 12  3
Marion Indians...... 100 110 1 -  4  9  1
-----------------------------------------

E - N. Dostal; Rhatigan; Kacena; Albaugh. DP - Warriors 1. LOB - Warriors 7; Indians
9. 2B - Puk; Kacena; Semler; Johnson 2. 3B - Rhatigan; Nielsen; An Charipar. HR - An
Charipar. SF - White; An Charipar. SB - Brown; N. Dostal; White; Hogg 3; Nielsen. CS
- Rhatigan.

Washington Warriors            IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Troendle  W,1-0.......   5.0  8  3  2  1  3   0  0  0  0   23 25   7  4
Zach Zingula  S,1..........   2.0  1  1  1  2  2   0  0  0  0    7  9   2  1

Marion Indians                 IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cale Cannoy  L,0-1.........   7.0 12  5  5  1  7   1  0  0  0   31 33   6  7

WP - C Cannoy. PB - Kacena.

Strikeouts - Puk 3; Rhatigan; G. Dostal 2; Troendle; Semler; Wagner; Biery 2; Fish.
Walks - Rhatigan; Nielsen; An Charipar; Albaugh.

Umpires -
Start: 5 p.m.   Time: 2:20   Attendance: 140

Troendle faced 1 batter in the 6th.