The only senior on the squad, Manchester’s Leland Horner delivers the first pitch of the Greyhounds’ 2025 season. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Lefty swinging Clayton Colvin drove home two runs in the Manchester 6-4 loss to Miami Trace on March 29. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It was a Saturday afternoon season opener for first-year head coach Trey Meade and the Manchester Greyhounds as they played host to the Miami Trace Panthers in a non-conference battle. With the Panthers being a Division III squad, a win could have been an early tournament seeding booster but the visiting Panthers had other ideas. Miami Trace rallied in their final at-bat, picking up three runs in the top of the seventh to come-from-behind and claim the 6-4 victory.
Both teams threatened in their first at-bats but left runners stranded before Trace broke through for a single run in the top of the second off of Manchester starter Leland Horner. The Panthers added one more in the top of the third before the Hounds rallied in the bottom half. With one out, Parker Hayslip drew a walk followed by Luke Applegate reaching on an error. After Hayslip raced home on an error by the Trace catcher, a base hit to left by Clayton Colvin scored Applegate to tie the game.
The Panthers went back in front in the top of the fourth, getting a run off of Manchester reliever Bryce Young, but the Hounds jumped back in front with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Young led off the frame with a two-bagger to left and was sacrificed to third by Hayslip. Applegate was hit by a pitch and when a ground ball off the bat of Colvin was misplayed by the Panthers’ second baseman, Young scored to tie the game. With two outs and a 2-2 count on Horner, a wild pitch brought Applegate racing home and the Hounds took a 4-3 advantage.
Manchester maintained that advantage until the top of the seventh when the Panthers erupted for three runs off of Greyhounds’ reliever Thomas Barnhart, getting a three-run triple off the bat of second baseman Brody McBee to retake the lead.
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