NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊManchester baseball coach Jack Rupley thought his team started the season on the right foot.

The Squires won their home opener over Wawasee Thursday night in five innings, 12-2.

"I think we did OK," said Rupley. "We made a few mistakes, first-game jitters. But I thought we put the bat on the ball pretty well."

After holding Wawasee scoreless the in the top of the first, Manchester's offense went to work.

Wawasee walked Manchester's first three batters, Anthony Sorg, Drew Walters and Klint Rupley, to load the bases. Then an error on a ball hit by Jon Gratz sent all three home.

Manchester held the Warriors scoreless again in the top of the second inning and continued the offensive assault in the bottom of the inning.

Wawasee's Jake Zajicek struck out Manchester's first batter, and the second Squire grounded out to first. Zajicek struck out the third Manchester batter, but the third strike was dropped by the catcher, allowing Walters to run to first.

That started a Manchester run. Rupley hit a single, and Gratz hit a double to send Rupley and Walters across the plate. After Adam Young walked, Manchester had runners on first and second when Brent Westendorf stepped to the plate.

Westendorf hit a home run over the right-field fence to clear the bases and put Manchester up 8-0.

But the Squires were not finished. Tyler Kelsey followed with a single, and Dustin Simcoe struck out but reached first on another catcher's error. Nate Bucher hit a single to send Kelsey home, and then a single by Sorg sent Simcoe across the plate to put the Squires up 10-0.

Wawasee tried to make a comeback in the fourth. Casey Cavell started the inning with a single but was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice by Brent Doty.

Zajicek reached first on an error, and Brian Adkins was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.

A wild pitch allowed Doty to score, and a grounder to second by James Stucky scored Zajicek to make the score 10-2.

Singles by Walters, Rupley, Gratz and Young led to two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to end the game on the 10-run rule, 12-2.

Rupley led the Squires, going 2 for 2 with two walks and three runs scored. Gratz went 2 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Westendorf was 1 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs.

"We hit the ball well tonight," said Jack Rupley. "Hopefully, we can keep it up. Klint got on base every time he got to the plate, and our older guys really stepped up for us."

Dan Milligan, Zajicek and Cavell led the Warriors with one hit each.

Manchester is 1-0 and will host a doubleheader with Maconaquah at 11 a.m. Saturday. Wawasee falls to 1-1 and will play at Woodlan at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

MANCHESTER 12, WAWASEE 2 5 innings

Wawasee 000 20 - 2 3 6

Manchester 370 02 - 12 11 2

Wawasee ab r h rbi

Milligan 2b 3 0 1 0

Cavell ss 1 0 1 0

Doty c 2 1 0 0

Zajicek p 2 1 1 0

Adkins rf 1 0 0 0

Stucky lf 2 0 0 1

Pollock 3b 1 0 0 0

Vallow dh 2 0 0 0

Beasley cf 2 0 0 0

Dingledein 1b 1 0 0 0

Totals 17 2 3 1

Manchester ab r h rbi

Sorg ss 3 1 1 1

Walters 2b 3 3 1 0

Rupley lf 2 3 2 0

Gratz p 4 1 2 1

Young 1b 3 1 1 1

Westendorf cf 3 1 1 3

Kelsey 3b 2 1 1 0

Simcoe c 2 1 0 0

Bucher rf 2 0 1 1

Powers c 1 0 0 0

Dale rf 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 12 11 6

E -ÊKelsey, Doty 4, Milligan, Zajicek. DP -ÊManchester 1, Wawasee 1. LOB -ÊManchester 8, Wawasee 2. 2B - Gratz. HR -ÊWestendorf.

IP H R ER BB SO

Wawasee

Zajicek L 0-1 2 7 10 0 6 4

Dingledein 3 4 2 2 1 2

Manchester

Gratz W, 1-0 3 2 0 0 1 1

Kelsey 2 1 2 1 0 0

Zajicek pitched to one batter in the third.

WP -ÊZajicek 2, Dingledein 2, Gratz 1, Kelsey 1. [[In-content Ad]]