When a team scores 19 runs in an inning, it’s usually on its way to a blowout victory.
Usually.
Despite scoring 19 runs in the second inning and 23 in the game, it took all seven innings for the Manchester baseball team to dispose of Tippecanoe Valley, as the Vikings put together an offensive clinic of their own, scoring 15. In a game that saw both teams have more than their fair share of offense, it was the Squires remaining undefeated with the 23-15 win.
The Vikings wasted no time putting the first runs of the game on the board. A leadoff single by Hunter Paxton followed by a pair of walks by Weston Brown and Gage Hileman loaded the bases for cleanup hitter Braxton Alderfer, who needed just one pitch to make an impact on the game. The Valley catcher unloaded on the first offering he saw, hitting a ball to deep center field to score two runs on a double. The Vikings added two more runs in the inning on a pair of RBI groundouts by Wes Haines and Jameson Phillips to take an early 4-0 lead.
The Squires had a great opportunity to cut into that lead in the bottom of the first, putting the first three men on base to load them up with nobody out. However, Hileman was able to settle in on the mound afterwards, retiring the next three hitters he saw to get out of the jam without a run crossing the plate.
A one-out single by Parker Adamson in the following inning proved to be fruitful, as after a pair of stolen bases by the nine hitter, he was brought home on a sacrifice fly by Brown to make it 5-0 after an inning and a half.

    Sophomore Braxton Alderfer of Tippecanoe Valley eyes his target en route to hitting a double in the first inning to drive in two runs...Nieter

They didn’t stay in front much longer. The bottom half of the second was a massive inning for the Squires, as the team batted through the order without recording an out, scoring seven runs in the process. Cody Carroll, Ethan Hendrix, Dallas Martin and Cale Bennett each had RBIs during that stretch, while Hunter Sturtsman plated two as Manchester completely flipped things around, taking a 7-5 lead.
That was just the beginning.
Manchester batted around once again, and ended up scoring the first 12 hitters of the inning. Sturtsman added three more RBIs on his second time up to bat, crushing a three-run home run to dead center field. A series of errors by the Valley defense allowed the inning to continue far longer than it should have, and on Hendrix’s third trip to the plate in the inning, he’d clear the loaded bases with a triple that bounced off the wall. The end result of the inning: 19 runs on eleven hits and 25 total hitters coming to the place. Heading into the frame down by four, the Squires ended it up by 14.
While it wasn’t as monstrous as the 19-run explosion the Squires put together moments earlier, the Vikings were able to come up with a decent answer in the top of the third, batting around themselves and scoring five runs to make it a single-digit ballgame once again. William Mellott drove in two of those runs with a single up the middle, while a Paxton triple to center field added two more. The final run of the inning came on a bloop single to right by Brown for his second RBI of the day.
Valley continued to fight their way back into things with a flawless bottom of the third, as the team retired the Squires in order to give their hitters another crack at it. Once again, the Vikings were able to chip away. The team’s second straight five-run inning and shrunk the deficit from 14 to four, and just like that, they were back in it. This inning saw Adamson, Paxton, Hileman and Alderfer each pick up RBIs as Valley sent all nine hitters to the plater for the second inning in a row.
Manchester was able to get back on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out single by Hendrix, which gave the shortstop both his fourth hit and fourth run driven in of the afternoon. With the lead now five, it was Valley’s turn to respond. This time though, the Manchester defense was able to come through, blanking the visitors for the first time in the contest.
Three errors by the Viking defense in the bottom of the fifth led to two more Manchester runs, making it a seven-run game with just two innings to play. For the second straight inning, the Squires were able to shut down the Valley bats, keeping the lead where it was with just three more outs to get.
After an insurance run was brought home by Sturtsman, Manchester now had an eight-run lead to work with as the team attempted to finish things off. That would be more than enough, as the side was retired in order to finish things off.
Manchester (3-0) is at Bluffton on Tuesday while Valley (0-1) hosts Warsaw on Wednesday.