NORTH MANCHESTER - The Manchester Squires weren't to cordial to their guests.
After finishing the first inning in a scoreless tie, Manchester High School's varsity baseball team outscored the Fort Wayne Elmhurst Trojans 11-1 over the next four-and-a-half innings, drawing the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth inning."They beat (Fort Wayne) Dwenger last night, and Fort Wayne Dwenger is always a pretty solid program," Manchester coach Jack Rupley said about being taken off-guard by his team's lopsided victory. "It just suprised me, because I thought, 'Golly, we're gonna be in for a real battle.'"
The only real battle in the nonconference game was between the Trojan batters and Squires starting pitcher Matt Mathias.
On the night, Mathias surrendered four hits and one earned run over five innings, striking out six.
"Matt Mathias did a great job of throwing strikes," Rupley said. "He's done well all year, he just didn't have a decision, until tonight. He's done a real good job of hitting spots and changing speeds. That's his forté."
During Mathias' five innings, Elmhurst went to three different pitchers, the first reliever entering the game with just one out in the second inning.
The Elmhurst starting pitcher saw his evening on the mound end after giving up four singles out of the five batters he faced in the second inning. One of those singles came off the bat of junior Ryan Binkley, which drove in two runs on the hit. The two RBI were just half of Binkley's output on the night, driving in two more on a double in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Squires a 10-1 lead at the time.
"We did a good job of staying with the ball better than what we had been," Rupley said of his team, which had 10 hits in the game. "We have struggled with swinging at bad pitches, and some of that stuff. Part of that is, like a lot of other teams, we haven't been able to play on a consistent basis, because of the weather. I think that's hurt us a little bit."
Binkley finished the night 2 for 2 with four RBI and two runs, but he wasn't the only one supplying offense.
Manchester also received three RBI from senior D.J. Brown, as well as two runs on a 2-for-3 night from junior Corey Thomas. And on top of his production on the mound, Mathias also went 2 for 2 at the plate, driving in a run, while scoring three himself.
The 10-run win was a surprise to Rupley, but making it even more unforeseen was the fact that his team was without senior Blaine Miller, who had left school early because of an illness.
"Nate Miller has played some at first base, so it was his shot," Rupley said of the Blaine Miller's fill-in.
While he's been able to fill in for missing players, filling out the schedule has been tougher for Rupley.
Because of cold climates and rain, Manchester's had a number of games cancelled. With that, the team has almost been playing pick-up games with other schools. On Monday, the Squires went to Tippecanoe Valley for a game, which didn't count toward their conference record. Saturday, they'll be doing the same thing when Wabash comes to town for an unofficial doubleheader.
"We'd lost some games, they'd lost some games," Rupley said about Saturday's doubleheader. "It doesn't count for any conference stuff, just like how we played (Tippecanoe) Valley Monday night. It didn't count for anything toward conference. It was just, 'Hey, you guys wanna come and play? Yep, we'll be there.'"
MANCHESTER 11, FW ELMHURST 1
E 001 00 - 1 4 3
M 034 4x - 11 10 2
Elmhurst (name not available) (L, 1-1/3, 4H, 3ER, K), Kristian Gayday (2, 1IP, 2H, 3ER, 1K, 2BB), Joe Navarro (3, 1-2/3IP, 4H, 2ER, 2K) and Austin Ramey; Matt Mathias (W, 5IP, 4H, 1ER, 6K, 2BB)
