Manchester’s Karson Reaves threw four no-hit innings against Western Latham on May 3, combining with reliever Logan Bell to down the Indians 4-1. (Photo courtesy of MHS Yearbook)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The Manchester Greyhounds varsity baseball squad leaped over the .500 mark in a memorable way on Monday, May 3 as they hosted Western Latham, tangling with the Indians. Coming into the game at 8-8 on the spring, the Greyhounds ended the day with a winning record, and with a no-hitter in the books.
The Manchester duo of Karson Reaves, pitching on his 16th birthday, and junior ace Logan Bell combined for seven no-hit innings as the Hounds pulled off the 4-1 victory to improve to 9-8 on the season. The only run for the Indians came in the top of the fourth off of Reaves, who had faced the minimum to that point. A couple of fielding errors by the Hounds allowed a Western run across, all the Indians got on Monday.
The Greyhounds tallied their first run of the game in the bottom of the second. Jackson Poole led off the frame with a double to center and moved over to third on a passed ball. After the next two batters were retired, Poole took matters into his own hands and swiped home to give the home team an early 1-0 advantage.
After the Indians tied the game with their lone run in the fourth, the Greyhounds broke things open with a three-spot in their half. With one out, Poole drew a base on balls, stole second,and scored the go-ahead run on a base hit by Bell. Bell stole seond and and moved to third on an infield hit by Aaron Lucas. The Hounds then pulled off a double steal with Lucas taking second and Bell sliding home to make it 3-1. A base hit by Karson Reaves drove Lucas home, and Drew Kennedy followed with a base hit, followed by a walk to Daulton McDonald loaded the bases with one out, but Cade Colvin and Ryland Wikoff both popped out to end the threat.
Bell came in to pitch for Manchester in the top of the fifth and the right hander proceeded to set down the first five hitters he faced and then after he gave up a base hit, the Western runner was gunned down trying to steal third by Hounds’ backstop Kyle Reaves. The Indians managed a pair of base runners in the top of the seventh, one drawing a walk and the other reaching on an error, but Bell got the final out on a ground out to shortstop, sealing the win and the no-no from the mound.
The Manchester offense collected seven hits to back their pitchers, two each by Bell and second baseman Drew Kennedy. The two Greyhound hurlers combined for 10 strikeouts, 5 by Reaves and 5 by Bell.
The non-conference win on Monday put the Hounds over .500, and on Wednesday they were back in SHAC action, and improved to 10-8 on the season with a 10-3 win over the Ripley Blue Jays.
The Greyhound nine were back on the diamond in conference play on Thursday, May 6 as they hosted Fairfield in a small school division battle, and then were set to go back out of conference on Saturday with a trip to Portsmouth West.
