
With a 6-3 win at Whiteoak on May 18, the Manchester Greyhounds claimed a Division IV sectional championship. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
No baseball team in southeast Ohio looks forward to a trip to Whiteoak High School, one of the toughest venues for opposing teams to deal with, but no one told that to the Manchester Greyhounds. After easily winning their Division IV sectional opener over Sciotoville East, the Greyhounds faced the task of traveling to Whiteoak on May 18 to tangle with the host Wildcats with a sectional championship on the line.
Tuesday’s contest was a classic pitching match up between the two staff aces, Whiteoak’s Landon Barnett and Manchester’s Logan Bell. the two had faced each other in the regular season, with the Cats eking out a 1-0 win and on a perfect day for baseball, the two met again with each team’s season on the line. With Bell firing one of his better games of the season at a very opportune time, the Greyhound offense put up a matchstick in each of their first three at-bats, then saw Whiteoak rally to tie the game, only to have the Hounds come up with three clutch runs in the top of the seventh to pull off the upset and send the Wildcats packing, as the visitors took the sectional crown with a 6-3 victory.
“This game really showed our team’s true ability,” said Manchester head coach Josh Reaves. “We had a few mistakes and got a little frustrated with some calls but we tightened up and got back to our game plan and got behind our pitcher.”
“We had great plate appearances, something we have really been working on. We had great movement and were very aggressive on the bases.”
The Greyhounds struck first on Tuesday, using a little small ball to produce a first-inning run. Leadoff hitter Rylan Wikoff hustled out a bunt single, went to second on a ground out, then came home as he attempted to steal third and the Whiteoak catcher’s throw sailed into left field. The Hounds added one in the top of the second when Daulton McDonald drew a walk and later scored when Aaron Lucas blasted a double off of the base of the left field fence that made it 2-0.
The Cats got one of those back in their half of the second, due to their base running. Carson Emery led off with a walk and went to third on a base hit by David Donohoo. When Donohoo attempted to steal second, Manchester catcher Kyle Reaves gunned him down, but on the play, Emery raced home to slice the Manchester lead in half.
In the top of the third, the Hounds tacked one more on their lead. Kyle Reaves blooped a single between a trio of Whiteoak defenders and then came across to score on a long two-bagger to left by Jackson Poole. Bell followed with a fly out to left and Poole was doubled off second on the play to end the inning, but Manchester was up 3-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Wildcats had a golden opportunity to push some runs across, loading the bases with one out and second baseman Eli Roberts at the plate. For the Hounds, it was just what the doctor ordered as Roberts hit a one-hopper back to Bell, who fired home to catcher Kyle Reaves for the force out, and Reaves fired on to Poole at first to complete a clutch inning-ending double play that temporarily maintained the Greyhounds’ two-run advantage.
Temporarily, because the host Wildcats were able to tie the score with a pair of unearned runs. With runners at second and third and two outs, Bell thought he had a called strike three on Whiteoak’s Donohoo, but the umpire disagreed. On the very next pitch, Donohoo lashed a line drive to left that Manchester left fielder Drew Kennedy misplayed, allowing two runs to score and tying the game at 3 apiece.
There are a lot of things to love about the game of baseball and one of those is that baseball is a game of redemption, players always seem to get a second chance, and that was never more true than in the Manchester top of the seventh. Daulton McDonald led off the frame with a double to right center, bringing Kennedy to the plate, looking to atone for his mishap in the bottom of the sixth. The left fielder proceeded to drop down a perfect bunt and hustled his way to first base, forcing a wild throw that allowed McDonald to score the go -ahead run.
The uncharacteristic sloppy defense for the Wildcats continued when Lucas reached n another error. After the next two batters were retired, Kyle Reaves came to the dish. Earlier in the game, Reaves had grounded out to second in a possible run-producing situation, but this time redemption was his as he laced a base hit to right that scored both Kennedy and Lucas to give the Hounds a 6-3 advantage.
That left the Wildcats three outs from elimination as Bell went to work in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Whiteoak’s Jaycob Gross was hit by a pitch and one out later, Connor Butler suffered the same fate. That brought Barnett to the plate as the potential tying run, and on a 1-2 pitch, Bell got a ground ball right at Poole at first, who tapped the bag and set off the celebrations as the Greyhounds claimed the sectional title.
It was a gutsy effort on the mound by Bell, who allowed just five hits and one earned run, while striking out seven and lowering his earned run average to 2.52.
“Logan is such a great weapon for us,” said Coach Reaves. “H was pretty emotional and frustrated at times today which is unusual for him but he made the adjustments and continued to throw strikes. He is just a great baseball player and a great athlete period. He takes baseball very seriously and I know he will have a future at the next level.”
The #13 seeded Greyhounds improved their season mark to 16-10 overall with their second postseason victory and now move on to the Division IV district semi-finals. They will be on the road again on Saturday, May 22 traveling to face the #5 seeded Huntington Huntsmen. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
BOX SCORE
Manchester
111 000 3— 6
Whiteoak
010 002 0— 3
Manchester Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Wikoff 4-1-2-0, Kyle Reaves 4-1-2-2, Poole 4-0-1-1, Bell 3-0-0-0, Colvin 3-0-0-0, McDonald 2-2-1-0, Kennedy 3-1-1-0, Lucas 3-1-1-1, Karson Reaves 3-0-0-0, Team 29-6-8-4.
Extra-Base Hits: Poole 2B, Lucas 2B, McDonald 2B
Whiteoak Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Rhoades 4-0-0-0, Butler 2-1-0-0, Barnett 4-0-1-0, Griffith 2-0-0-0, Emery 2-2-1-0, Donohoo 2-0-2-0, Roberts 3-0-0-0, Clift 2-0-0-0, Stone 1-0-0-0, Gross 3-0-1-0, Team 25-3-5-0.
Extra-Base Hits: Donohoo 2B
Manchester Pitching: Bell (W) 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 118 pitches
Whiteoak Pitching: Barnett (L) 6 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 1BB, 5 K< 86 pitches
Rhoades 1 IP, 1 H, 15 pitches