NORTH MANCHESTER — The Manchester baseball team fell 4-1 to the visiting Homestead Spartans Wednesday, but it wasn't because of its pitcher. Going all seven innings, Manchester's junior pitcher Connor McLaughlin struck out 10, walked one and hit another, but did give up eight hits in the loss. "The pitcher came out and really challenged our hitters from the very beginning," Homestead coach Steve Sotir said. "He threw a lot of strikes and battled. There was an at-bat where our guy must have had 15 foul balls. It was a great at-bat by our guy, but it was just as good of a pitching performance by him. He just kept throwing strikes and that's all you can ask for from a high school pitcher. He kept them in the ball game the entire time. Excellent job by Manchester." One of McLaughlin's strike-out victims actually reached first base in the third inning after the pitch was dropped. The batter later came around to score on an RBI single by junior Brandon Soat. After the Soat hit, Manchester made an errant throw to first base, actually hitting Soat after he had reached first base. The throw allowed another Spartan run to score, putting Manchester in a 2-0 hole. "We did give them a couple, and that's been the story we've had for most of this year - giving away runs," Manchester coach Jack Rupley said. "Tonight, we didn't get the bat on the ball that well. With that happening, you can't afford to give runs away. If you're not going to score some runs, you can't afford to give some away." With Soat on the mound for the Spartans (6-2), the Manchester Squires (1-3) did struggle to find an offensive rhythm, posting just one hit through five innings. "We were selective at the plate, but there were a couple times when I thought we could have been a little more aggressive early in the count," Rupley said. "That's something we're going to have to work on." Despite the lack of offense, Manchester still trailed by just two runs until Homestead senior CJ Talley blasted a shot over the right-center field fence to lead off the fifth inning. "Believe me, we needed the breathing room against this team today," Sotir said. "We teach our guys to sit back and hit the ball hard up the middle. We hit a little too many fly balls, giving them easy chances. In order to be successful, you have to put it all together." Homestead tacked another run on later in the inning, increasing the lead to 4-0, but Manchester made a run at the Spartans in the bottom of the sixth. Following two quick outs to start the inning, junior Payton Sorg hit a single, which was followed by a walk to McLaughlin. With runners at first and second, senior Scott Baker lined an RBI-single up the middle, driving home Sorg. "It was a good at-bat and at least broke the shutout," Rupley said. The hit ended the day for Soat, who left the game with seven strikeouts and just three hits. Junior reliever Andy Harkness then came in to end the threat, inducing a ground out with runners at first and third. Facing a quality Homestead squad, Rupley wasn't too disappointed in his team, which stranded seven Spartans on the base paths, five in scoring position. "We really need to capitalize and take advantage of those situations," Sotir said. "Right now, we're popping the ball up. (Tuesday), we hit into two solid double plays. We have to keep getting the guys on base and keep taking our chances." On two occasions, Homestead put runners at second and third with only one out, but each time McLaughlin struck out a batter then induced an easy out. "We did a pretty good job," Rupley said. "They'd get a couple guys on, but we were able to strand their runners." And it was thanks to McLaughlin's night that Manchester was able to accomplish that feat. "Connor did a good job of getting ahead of hitters, making them put the ball in play," Rupley said. "He did a nice job of mixing pitches too. That's what we have to do, but we also need to do a better job of producing runs. That's the biggest thing." Manchester will get its next chance to produce some runs Friday at Eastern.
HOMESTEAD 4, MANCHESTER 1 H 002 020 0 — 4 8 0 M 000 001 0 — 1 3 3 Brandon Soat (W, 5-2/3IP, 1R, 1ER, 3H, 7K, 4BB), Andy Harkness (6, S, 1-1/3IP, 2K) and Nathan Miller; Connor McLaughlin (L, 7IP, 4R, 2ER, 8H, 10K, 1BB, 1HB, 1HR) and Jim Sainsbury 2B — Andre Jernigan (H) HR — CJ Talley (H) Records — Homestead 6-2, Manchester 1-3 JV — Homestead 13, Manchester 3
