MT. CARMEL, Ill. -- The eighth-ranked baseball Warriors won their Great Rivers Athletic Conference opener on Thursday, a 9-4 victory over visiting Frontier in the first of a three-game series.
The two clubs will meet again on Saturday for a 12-noon doubleheader in Fairfield.
After Frontier touched Wabash Valley starting pitcher Jacob Frost for two runs in the top of the first, the Warriors were quick to respond, with three runs in the home half.
Nicklas Williams, Landen Johnson, and Michael Lareau each delivered RBI singles to put the Warriors on top, 3-2.
Frontier (10-7) tied the game with a tally in the third, then regained the lead with one run in the fourth.
Again, WVC responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead to stay, 5-4.
With the bases full, Johnson reached on an error, which allowed Luke Odden and Yamil Torres to score.
Two balk calls allowed Lareau and Jorge Rodriguez to score in the bottom of the fifth, allowing Wabash Valley to extend the lead to 7-4.
The 15-6 Warriors, who have won eight games in a row, finished the scoring with single runs in the seventh and eighth. A sacrifice fly from Torres pushed Odden across to make it 8-4 in the seventh, followed by a bases-loaded walk to Odden that scored Isaias Villarreal in the eighth to account for the 9-4 final.
Frost gave up four runs in four innings of work, but only one was earned. Luke Leverton came on in the fifth and blanked the Bobcats the rest of the way for the win. He is now 2-0 on the year with an ERA of 0.47.
WVC outhit Frontier, 12-6, on the day, with Richard Bonomolo, Williams, Johnson, Lareau and Odden recording two-hit days at the plate. Johnson picked up three RBIs.
The Warriors also added seven stolen bases, hiking their season total to 60, 12th-most in the country.