MT. CARMEL, ILL. – Wabash Valley baseball coach Rob Fournier said it was fun.
Olney Central pitchers would beg to differ.
Aided by gusty winds in excess of 25 miles per hour, the No. 1-ranked Warriors banged out four home runs in an 18-6 victory over Olney Central on Tuesday in the first game of a Great Rivers Athletic Conference doubleheader.
"That was fun to see," said Fournier of the aerial parade. "Some days when you get a wind like that, you tell your hitters to try and elevate the ball. But you hope that's the day you do it."
Three of the homers in the opener came in a six-run fourth inning. Ryan McCoy hit a 3-run shot to make it 12-3. Hylan Hall added a 2-run blast and Connor Olson a solo homer to hike the lead to 15-3.
McCoy, the Warrior first baseman, repeated his feat again in the fifth, with another 3-run blast that ended the game early.
Wabash Valley (39-3, 20-2 in GRAC) put up big scoreboard numbers in the second game, too, for a 14-4 win, but without a home run.
Curtis Washington, Jr. had two doubles in the nitecap, part of his 3-of-5 game, and collected four RBIs.
Just as Warrior hitters were taking aim at the fences, pitchers too had a game plan designed to avoid the same fate.
"We relied on getting the ball down and sinking the ball," Fournier said. "We tried to (pitch) away as much as we could.
"We had a couple of guys who sunk the ball really well. That's how they pitch, down in the zone, so that worked out really well."
The second game was marked by the return of right handed starting pitcher Zac Robinson. The sophomore last pitched on Mar. 22.
"He's been out for quite awhile with the injury bug," Fournier said. "We had been counting on him to be one of our top four pitchers, so it was really huge for him personally for his confidence, and also for our team because we really need him going down the stretch."
Robinson threw 56 pitches in his homecoming, allowing four hits and two runs over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked only one batter during his stint.
Olney Central fell to 26-16 (8-10).
The Warriors have a four-game weekend series scheduled against Lincoln Trail. The first two games in Robinson were rained out on Thursday. The Warriors are scheduled to host the Statesmen on Saturday.