NORTH MANCHESTER – Whitko’s varsity baseball team had chances to score during the first six innings of Wednesday’s game at Three Rivers Conference rival Manchester. The Wildcats finally broke through in the seventh, as they capitalized on three straight walks offered up by Squire pitcher Evan Milam, as well as an RBI single by Landen Goff, to win 3-0. “We had a lot of chances early, we just couldn’t do some small things,” said Whitko coach Erik Hisner, whose team improved to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in league play. “We had chances to move guys over with the short game and didn’t get it done. We were running the bases pretty well. We had some stolen bases that got us into scoring position, we just couldn’t get that last 90 feet.” Through the first six innings, Milam struck out 12 Whitko batters, walked four and gave up five hits. Things unraveled a bit for Milam and the Squires in the seventh, however, as Whitko’s Zach Snep reached on an error with one out, and then Drew Bradford, Garrett Smiley and Hunter Sroufe walked. Sroufe’s walk plated Snep, giving the Wildcats the run they needed for the win. Roger Helbig, in the game as a pinch runner, and Smiley scored insurance runs on Goff’s single. “He pitched well,” Hisner said of Milam, who took the loss after giving up six hits and seven walks in a complete-game effort that included 13 strikeouts. “Obviously from our standpoint, if we put the ball in play, those 13 strikeouts are too much, if we put the ball in play I think we crack through a little bit earlier ... but he threw the ball well from the get-go. I was impressed with his velocity, and when he had to he threw his curveball for a strike. In the seventh, I’m not sure if he got a little tired, or if we just started executing a little better, laying off some of those balls, but yeah we finally cracked through. Those were some big at-bats. We had some guys that got down (in the pitch count) that were able to grind out a walk, and Goff getting that hit really made things a lot easier.” Goff finished the game 2 for 3 at the plate, while Snep was 2 for 4, including the game’s only extra-base hit, a double in the third inning. Tanner Gaff was credited with the pitching win after a complete-game effort that included eight strikeouts. Gaff gave up just five hits and walked four Manchester batters. For the Squires, the story of Wednesday’s game was the story of their season, as the fell to 0-8 overall and 0-1 in TRC action. “That’s been the story of our season so far ... we’ve had chance after chance after chance,” said Manchester coach Jack Rupley. “We just haven’t gotten over that hump. We had guys at first and second with no outs in the third inning, and we got nothing. We’ve struggled with that kind of stuff all year long. “Evan got himself in a little bit of trouble in the seventh inning ... we had an out, had an error, and three walks,” continued Rupley. “Walks are hard to defend. He just kind of lost it there a little bit. We’re so close, we’re just struggling getting over that hump right now. We haven’t been playing all that bad to be honest.” Landon Tharp led Manchester’s offense, going 2 for 3 at the plate. Both Whitko and Manchester are in action again Saturday, as the Wildcats host a doubleheader with Bluffton and the Squires host Triton in a twinbill.
