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Monday night’s contest between the Manchester and Whitko baseball team was neck-and-neck for nearly the entire game, with the Squires leading 2-0 after six innings. But thanks to a massive seventh as well as a nearly perfect game from Harper Sturtsman on the mound (14 strikeouts), Manchester was able to pull away late to pick up a 10-0 win.
The Squires were able to muster up a couple of hits from the top of their order, but Whitko starter Daton Day navigated around the trouble to strand both base runners without allowing a run. The bottom of the first featured a similar series of events, as Sturtsman got out of a jam after two men reached base to keep things scoreless after one.
Day continued to stay in rhythm in the second inning despite giving up a leadoff walk. The junior went on to strike out two of the next three hitters he saw to send it over to the bottom half. Not to be outdone, Strurtsman used a pair of punchouts to work around a two-out error that put a man on first to send Day back to the mound.
Another leadoff walk followed by an infield error allowed Manchester to put the first two men on in the top of the third, but once again, Day was up to the task. He got some help from his defense, specifically a pair of nice plays at shortstop by Chase Miller, to get out of another tough spot. The bottom half of the third went rather quickly, as Sturtsman struck out a pair for the third straight inning while retiring the side in order. If there were any doubts before there weren’t any now: this had turned into a full-blown pitcher’s duel.
While it was becoming increasingly clear that it was not going to take very many runs to win this game, the Squires struck first in the top of the third. Cody Carroll led things out, hitting a ball to short and hustling over to first to beat the throw. He’d go on to steal second while Hunter Hamilton was at the dish. Hamilton eventually grounded to third, and Carroll stayed at second until the throw was made, and he took off for third. The Wildcats moved quickly to get the ball back over to the hot corner, but the throw skipped under the glove of Lewis Skinner and got away. Using some head’s up baserunning, Carroll quickly shot up and trotted home to score the game’s opening run.
Now pitching with a lead, Sturtsman wasted no time getting right back to work in the bottom of the fourth. The junior retired all three hitters he faced for the second straight inning, including coming back from a 3-0 count to end the frame with a strikeout. Whitko was struggling to figure him out, having only hit one ball into the outfield to this point.
Day responded well in his first trip to the mound since surrendering the lead. He did give up some hard contact, but his outfield had his back. Sturtsman very nearly helped himself out at the plate here by crushing one into dead center field, but a nice read from Hunter Long allowed the sophomore to track it down at the warning track to make the out.
Whitko finally put a runner on base in the form of a one-out walk to Andy Shepherd in the bottom of the fifth. He’d make it to second on a wild pitch, but no further as Strurtsman struck out Long looking to turn it over once more.
Freshman Mason Hersha of Whitko safely steals second base during the first inninig as Manchester shortstop Hunter Hamilton, makes the tag...Nieter
The Squire offense added on to its lead in the top of the sixth. Landen Bean began the inning by being hit by a pitch before going on to steal both second and third. That brought up Hamilton, and for the second time in the contest, he’d put the ball in play that resulted in a run coming across. This time, he’d get credited for the RBI, as he reached safely with an infield single. Manchester had a chance to really blow things open by putting runners on the corners later in the inning, but Day was able to escape without any more damage being done.
The bottom half of the inning was business as usual for Sturtsman, as he fielded a bunt and struck out two more to reach double figures for the game. After recording his third 1-2-3 inning of the day, he was now just three outs away from finishing off a gem.
But before then, the visiting offense broke things open in the top half. Hamilton added his second RBI of the day, Bean drove one in on a ground out, but the two big hits belonged to Resto D’Andrea and Bryson Enyeart. D’Andrea hit a single up the middle with two men in scoring position to bring them both home, and later in the inning, Enyeart left the yard with a three-run home run that put the exclamation point on an eight-run inning that made it a 10-0 game.
Sturtsman finished the game as strong as he started it, striking out three hitters in the bottom of the seventh to finish off a fantastic outing with 14 Ks.
