Warren East's Matt Mellencamp hits an RBI single during their win over South Warren on Monday, May 8, 2017, at South Warren. (Austin Anthony/photo@bgdailynews.com)

A Game 3 makeup was a little odd for both Warren East and South Warren.

Both teams are locked to play each other in the District 14 Tournament in two weeks, and neither wanted to expose their best pitching in a game that doesn’t have much bearing for the postseason.

When that game does roll around – the one that matters – South Warren hopes it plays a little cleaner than it did Monday.

The Spartans committed four errors that helped the Raiders blow the doors open in an 11-4 victory at South Warren High School.

Both teams had 11 hits apiece, but the Raiders (19-6 overall, 8-4 District 14) plated four runs off errors alone. Warren East pulled away from a two-run lead with five runs in the top of the fifth to run away with its third straight victory.

“We were able to find some holes and take advantage of their mistakes early,” Warren East coach Wes Sanford said. “We scored a lot of runs off their mistakes. Offensively, as we went on, we locked in a little better. It’s been Wednesday since we played, so it’s been a while and it was good to see us find that groove again.

“You take those breaks and you worry with how they’re going to react to those.”

It had been more than a month since the two teams had to cancel Game 3 of the series because of inclement weather. The Spartans (15-15, 7-4) won both of those games by one run – an 8-7, 10-inning win March 28 and a 5-4 win at Warren East the next night.

With the win, the Raiders could still sneak up to the No. 2 seed in the District 14 Tournament, but only if Warren Central defeats South Warren in a makeup game yet to be scheduled.

South Warren may have escaped the first two games of the series, but nothing went its way Monday. Even with a two-run cushion after one inning, Spartans pitchers couldn’t find the zone and the defense, South Warren coach Chris Gage said, was sloppy in the field.

“This is a weird game to play,” Gage said. “We talked about it beforehand and we don’t really want to show them anything and they don’t want to show us anything. I told our team, though, that’s not an excuse to play that poorly. We gave them a lot with too many lack-of-focus errors. We just poorly executed.”

The Spartans gave starting pitcher Mason Biggs two runs after one inning with back-to-back RBIs from Hunter Evans and Max Benningfield.

But Warren East loaded the bases to start the third inning with leadoff hits from Ty Colson, Austin Hymer and Dakota Basham. The Raiders tied it at 2-2 when second baseman Sam Gage fumbled a routine ground ball from Davion Downey.

Warren East moved in front on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Ryan Hawks and single from Matt Alford to make it 4-2. Biggs’ six hits and four runs allowed led to his day ending early and Noah Cranor taking over.

The Raiders worked their lead up to 6-2 through the sixth inning while starter Tyler Jones worked comfortably with his off-speed pitches. South Warren pinch hitter Josh Vincent, back for the first time since suffering an injury against Bowling Green, roped a two-out, two-run single into center field to bring the Spartans within 6-4.

Then the wheels fell off.

Chauncey Greer grounded out the second base before the Raiders got three straight hits, the last of the sequence being an RBI double from Dakota Basham. The Spartans intentionally walked Downey for a third-straight appearance to load the bases and just one out.

Ty Stringfield poked the ball into shallow center where Jaxson Smith misread the ball, which rolled well behind him into deep center and allowed Stringfield to clear the bases. He scored on a wild pitch one batter later to end the seventh-inning scoring spree.

Warren East had scored just three runs in two games against Greenwood before last Wednesday. Since then, the Raiders have plated 25 runs in two games.

“I think a lot of guys just decided to stay back on the baseball and let it get to them and try to focus more,” Stringfield said. “It’s improved a lot.”

Colson finished 3-for-3 at the plate while Basham and Matt Mellencamp each had two hits.

WEHS – 013 011 5 – 11

SWHS – 200 002 0 – 4

WP: Jones. LP: Isabel.

– Follow sports reporter Elliott Pratt on Twitter @EPrattBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.