Manchester’s Landen Doyle (5) slides safely into home plate with one of the Greyhounds’ 12 runs in their May 21 district quarterfinal win over Eastern Pike. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Horner tosses no-hitter in win over Eastern Pike
Senior Leland Horner was dominant on the mounds for Manchester in their 12-0 district tournament win over Eastern Pike on May 21. Horner threw a no-hitter and struck out 10 as the Greyhounds advanced in tourney play. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
A season that has already seen a Southern Hills Athletic Conference small school championship moved into the postseason on May 21 for Coach Trey Meade and his Manchester Greyhounds as they hosted the Eastern Pike Eagles in a Division VI quarterfinal playoff contest. With relative ease, the Hounds picked up their seventh consecutive win and improved their overall mark to 13-4 with a dominant 12-0 mercy rule win over Eastern to move to the district semifinals.
In the victory, the Greyhounds had a number of standout performances, beginning with the work of senior Leland Horner on the mound. Horner tossed a five inning no-hitter, allowing just two base runners while striking out 10 Eagles to lead the way and pick up his third win of the season and lower his earned run average to 2.02. At the plate, leadoff hitter Traevyn Hilderbrand had a big day, going 2 for 3, driving home four runs and scoring twice. The Hounds also got two hits from junior shortstop Luke Applegate and two RBI’s from catcher Thomas Barnhart.
After a scoreless first inning, the Manchester offense came to life in the bottom of the second, scoring six times to take the lead for good. The Hounds banged out a trio of doubles in the scoring frame, one each from Applegate, Barnhart and Carson Inman and a bases loaded sacrifice fly from Parker Hayslip to forge ahead.
After Horner fanned two Eagles in the top of the third, the Greyhounds went right back to work in their half and scored five more times. Four walks combined with base hits by Landen Doyle and Hilderbrand put the contest on ice and gave the home team an 11-0 advantage on a chilly, blustery afternoon that thankfully included no precipitation.
Manchester added one more in the bottom half of the fourth when Hilderbrand drew a bases loaded walk and in the top of the fifth, Horner put down Eastern in order to wrap up a berth for the Hounds in the district semis.
“We played a very complete ball game tonight,” Coach Meade told C103 Radio in the postgame. “We pitched well, defended well, had some timely hitting, were aggressive on the bases, our short game was there- a pretty complete game. The more games we’ve been able to play, the more comfortable we’ve become on offense and defense.”
“Leland pitched a really good ball game tonight. He had command of all his pitches and could use them all whenever he needed them. He’s just been good for us all year.”
With the win, the #5 seeded Greyhounds will match up with the #4 seeded Huntington Huntsmen in the Division VI district semifinals, Huntington being an 11-0 winner over Chesapeake in the quarterfinals. That semifinal match up will take place at South Point High School on May 29 at 6:30 p.m. with the winner moving to the district championship game two days later at the VA Stadium in Chillicothe.
(Update: On May 22, the Greyhounds finished their conference schedule with a 14-4 road victory at Fayetteville, finishing their SHAC slate with a final record of 10-2.)
