WABASH - The Lewis Cass Kings, and Mother Nature, really rained on the Manchester Squires' parade Monday.
Moments before a downpour hit Chris Rood Field in Wabash, the Squires recorded their last out in a 2-1 Class 2A Sectional 39 baseball loss."I'm disappointed, but this is a good group of kids to work with," Manchester coach Jack Rupley said about the loss. "It really was."
After a 5-21 campaign a year ago, this year's Squires squad wrapped up its season with a 14-10-1 record, putting a bright spot on the rainy day.
"We won five games last year," Rupley said. "The juniors last year, that became seniors this year, vowed that wasn't going to happen. They worked hard in the offseason. I can't say enough about my seniors. I just can't."
Those seniors saw their prep careers come to an end in a game featuring zero earned runs, menacing cloud coverage and tornado sirens.
With a storm front moving its way to Wabash from the southwest, a hot, sunny day became a cool, breezy one between the fourth and fifth innings, threatening to postpone the game at any moment.
By the time the dark clouds moved overhead, Manchester was up 1-0 thanks to an RBI-groundball by junior Clint Bischoff, which resulted in a Cass error, but gave junior Dylin Kennedy enough time to score from third.
The storm seemed to have each team playing like that inning would be the last of the day, but in the bottom of the fifth, Cass took the upper hand.
Following a sacrifice-bunt, Cass had a runner at second with one out when senior Cameron Cummings flew out to right field. However, instead of making the catch, the ball dropped out of the fielder's glove, allowing senior Drew Fowler to score, and following another errant throw from second base to the catcher, Cummings moved to third base, later scoring on a groundout.
"We were evenly matched, I just wish it could have gone the other way," Rupley said.
The two unearned runs were all sophomore pitcher Scott Baker allowed, as he pitched six innings, giving up four hits and striking out eight.
"He did a great job," Rupley said about Baker. "We just wasted too many opportunities. My hat's off to Lewis Cass, because they're always a good, solid ball club."
Down by a run going into the top of the seventh, the Squires first had to weather a short delay as Wabash city sirens sounded due to high winds, even though lightning could be seen during the previous two innings.
After the short delay, senior Matt Carver hit a one-out single, but stayed there the rest of the inning, being just one of the nine baserunners Manchester left on base. Of those nine, three were left at second base and two were stranded at third.
"We had a lot of opportunities with runners in scoring position," Rupley said. "We just did not get that hit when we needed to. That's what it all boils down to."
The win puts Cass in the championship game, but because rain forced Monday's second game to be postponed, the Kings won't know who they play until Northfield and Wabash square off at 4:30 p.m. today. Following that game, the championship will be played.
LEWIS CASS 2, MANCHESTER 1
M 000 100 0 - 1 5 2
C 000 020 x - 2 4 2
Troutman (W, 7IP, 1R, 0ER, 5H, 5K, 3BB) and Zeck; Baker (L, 6IP, 2R, 0ER, 4H, 8K, 2BB, 1HB) and B. Miller
