Manchester right hander Kaleb Henschen delivers on to the plate in the first inning of the Hounds’ 15-0 win over St. Patrick. Henschen got the win, pitching two innings, allowing one hit and striking out four.

Three hurlers combine on one-hitter –

Story and photo by Mark Carpenter –

After opening their 2017 campaign with a road loss to Portsmouth Clay, Coach Dustin Cook and the Manchester Greyhounds baseball squad christened their new home field on Wednesday in a big way, rolling to a 15-0 run rule win over the visiting St. Patrick Saints.
The Greyhounds took advantage of some sloppy fielding by the Saints, banged out 10 hits on offense, and got a one-hit shutout pitching performance from the trio of Kaleb Henschen, Bryan Young, and Kaige Cox in the game which was halted by the run rule after four innings.
“It was a great first win for our club,”said Coach Cook. “Any time that you can work ahead in the count from the mound and string some hits together at the plate you usually give yourself a chance to win and that’s what I thought our guys did today.”
After the starter Henschen blanked the Saints in the top of the first inning, the Greyhound offense went right to work in the bottom half, taking advantage of errors that allowed their first two hitters to reach, setting the tone for the rest of the game.  Manchester sent 11 hitters to the plate in the first inning, getting base hits from Colton Thornburg, Kaulen Cox, Kaige Cox, and Gage Lucas, add in four walks issued by St, Pat starter Nic Cress and it all added up to a 7-0 lead for the home team.
After giving up a leadoff single (the only St, Pat hit of the game), Henschen struck out the side in the top of the second and the Hounds added two more in their half. Henschen led off the frame with a base hit and later scored on an error while Jase Thatcher walked and came home on a passed ball that made it 9-0.
Young tossed a scoreless third for the Hounds as did Kaige Cox in the top of the fourth in his first-ever trip to the mound in a varsity game.  The game came to a conclusion in the bottom of the fourth when the Greyhounds tallied six runs, with Shaun Gould, Noah Scott, and Kaige Cox all reaching base and scoring.
A double to left by Kaulen Cox made it 13-0 and a two-bagger to left by Henschen brought across the two clinching runs as the Hounds picked up the first of what they hope will be many wins in the 2017 season.
The winners got two hits each from Thornburg, Henschen, and Kaulen Cox, with Cox driving home three in the “W.”Kaige Cox and Henschen each chipped in two runs batted in, with Henschen getting the win on the mound.
The Hounds were back in action on March 30, hosting Eastern Brown in their first Southern Hills Athletic Conference contest of the spring, and then will host the West Union Dragons on Monday, April 3 in a game that was rescheduled from earlier in the week.