Baseball Team Wins TRC Title
28 May 2009

With one swing of the bat, the Manchester High School baseball team remained unbeaten in the TRC.
Clint Bischoff blasted a walk-off grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the Squires to a come from behind 11-9 win over North Miami Thursday night.
“That was a great come back win,” coach Jack Rupley said. “We gave them too many outs early in the game, and they took advantage of it, but we had two big innings in the sixth and the seventh.”
North Miami led 9-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Squire bats woke up at the right time.
Dylin Kennedy got things started with a double. Derrek Freshour walked, followed by an RBI single from Bischoff. Ryan Binkley followed that with an RBI single, and Connor McLaughlin, who got the win on the mound, drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.
Matt Carver drove in the final run of the inning to cut the lead to 9-7.
McLaughlin shut down the Warriors in order in the top of the seventh, including two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cody Semler and Kennedy both got on base with walks. Freshour loaded them up with a single, which led to Bischoff’s blast to win the game and move the Squires’ record to 8-8-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
Bischoff went 4-4 on the day with five RBI and a home run. Freshour was 2-3, Corey Thomas was 2-4 with two RBI, Binkley was 1-3 with two RBI, Carver was 1-4 with an RBI, McLaughlin also drove in a run despite going 0-2. Semler and Kennedy each had a hit.
McLaughlin got the win on the mound, going 3 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on one hit, striking out seven and walking one.
Semler started the game, pitching 3 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits, striking out four and walking three.
Win Over Wabash
The Squires continued their winning ways in the TRC Friday night against Wabash, shutting out the Apaches 9-0.
Scott Baker got the win on the mound, pitching a complete game.
“Scott pitched well on four days rest,” coach Jack Rupley said.
Kennedy led the way at the plate with two hits and two RBI, while Semler had two hits and an RBI. Bischoff had one hit, and Carver, Brady Miller, and Binkley all had one hit and one RBI each, while Thomas added a hit.
Win Over Northfield
In an old fashioned pitchers’ duel, Manchester’s Connor McLaughlin got just enough offensive help to outlast Northfield’s Tyler Palmer in a 3-2 Squire win.
Manchester clinched at least a tie for the Three Rivers Conference with the win, improving to 6-0 in the conference and 10-8-1 overall.
McLaughlin got the win on the mound, pitching a complete game, giving up two runs on four hits, striking out nine and walking two.
Palmer, meanwhile, gave up three runs on four hits and struck out 12.
The difference in the game, however, came in the first inning where Manchester got all three of their runs.
Cory Thomas led off by reaching base after getting hit by a pitch. Matt Carver quickly made it 2-0 with a blast over the left center fence.
Palmer seemed to settle down, striking out the next two Squires, but Dylin Kennedy connected for a solo shot to make it 3-0.
McLaughlin, meanwhile, struck out five of the first six batters he faced, and retired the first nine.
After five scoreless Northfield innings, things got a little dicey for the Squires in the top of the sixth.
McLaughlin walked Palmer, then gave up a single to Todd Swan. Payton Ross drove Palmer and Swan in to cut the lead to 3-2.
Ross reached second base on an error, but McLaughlin got Corbin Dawes to pop out to end the inning.
The Squires tried to add to their lead in the top of the seventh. Bischoff walked and moved to third on a Cory Thomas single, but Carver flew out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, McLaughlin pitched like a veteran, recording a ground out, a strike out, and getting Nate Dunn to pop out to catcher Brady Miller to end the game.
“It was a great pitchers’ duel out there between Connor and the Palmer kid,” Rupley said. “We were fortunate to get the two home runs in the first inning. I told the kids heading into the bottom of the seventh this will show what we are made of, and they came through.”
Win Over Whitko
Despite winning the state championship in 2002 and making a final four appearance in 2005, the Manchester High School baseball team won its first Three Rivers Conference championship since the 2000 season last week.
The Squires won the title outright with a 9-0 shutout of Whitko to finish 7-0 in the conference.
“The kids did a great job to win the conference title,” coach Jack Rupley said. “We can teach them all we want, but they have to do it between the white lines, and they did that. Our defense is getting a lot better. We still have a few things to clean up, but we’re getting better.
“We’ve had some timely hits, and our pitching had been pretty good,” he continued.
Against Whitko, the timely hits happened early and often, including back to back home runs in the first inning by Dylin Kennedy and Derrek Freshour.
Kennedy’s was a three run shot, scoring Brady Miller and Cody Semler, both of whom singled to reach base. Freshour’s was a solo shot for a 4-0 lead.
The Squires added three more runs in the second inning. Corey Thomas led off with a double, followed by Matt Carver reaching after getting hit by a pitch.
Miller drove them both in with a double, and later scored on a fielder’s choice from Semler.
After a scoreless third inning, Semler got in on the fun, blasting a two run home run to give the Squires a 9-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Scott Baker was masterful on the mound, pitching a one hit shut out and struck out 14 of the 26 batters he faced on the day, and walked just one.
Kennedy went 2-2 with a home run and three RBI, Semler was 2-4 with a home run and three RBI, Miller was 2-4 with two RBI, Freshour was 1-2 with a home run and an RBI. Thomas, Baker, and Ryan Binkley all had one hit.
Bishop Luers Tourney
Manchester finished runner-up to Mishawaka Marian at the Bishop Luers Tourney last Saturday. The Squires beat the host Knights 5-2 in the first game, but lost to Marian 7-3.
In the opening game, Cody Semler got the win on the mound, going four innings, giving up one run on three hits, striking out three and walking four.
Connor McLaughlin pitched three innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits, striking out two and walking one.
Manchester got things going early with three runs in the first inning and never trailed.
Thomas went 3-4, while Carver, Semler, Devan Knecht and Bischoff, all had one hit and one RBI each, and McLaughlin added an RBI. Freshour also had one hit.
In the championship game, Manchester fell to Marian 7-3.
The Squires once again got an early lead as Thomas led the game off with a single and later scored, but Marian scored three in the bottom of the first, took a 7-2 lead after three and held on for the win.
“We got ourselves into a hole early and couldn’t dig our way out,” Rupley said. “We left 10 men on base. We have to take advantage of our opportunities with runners in scoring position.”
Nate Miller took the loss on the mound going two innings, giving up six runs on one hit and walked five.
Baker pitched three innings and gave up one run on one hit, struck out five and walked two. Bischoff pitched one inning and struck out two.
Freshour had two hits and two RBI, while Kennedy, Semler, and Thomas all had two hits. Nate Miller, Brady Miller and Carver each added one hit.
Win Over Oak Hill
The Squires ended their regular season in impressive fashion with a 13-0 win over Oak Hill in six innings.
Baker got the complete game win on one hit. He struck out six and walked just one.
The Squires led just 2-0 heading into the fifth inning, but scored four runs in the fifth and seven more in sixth to take the win.
“Scott did a real nice job on the mound,” Rupley said. “We got some real timely hitting. Hopefully this will give us some momentum going into sectional.”
Kennedy had three hits and four RBI, Carver had three hits and an RBI, Thomas had two hits and an RBI, Semler had two hits, Binkley had one hit and two RBI, and Miller had one hit.
The Squires will face North Miami this Thursday in the opening game of the Wabash Sectional at 5:00 p.m.