After finishing last year by hoisting the Class AA state championship trophy, Winona Christian baseball coach Shannon Self never envisioned the way his Stars would finish this rain-plagued season.
With star pitcher Austin Huggins on the mound, Manchester scored 10 unearned runs and took a 15-10 win in Game 1 of the series and then finished off the sweep with an 8-1 win in Game 2 of the series.
Winona finishes the season with an 8-7 record. Manchester improves to 16-5 with the win and advances to take on Tri-County Academy in the Class AA semifinals.
Manchester 15, Winona Christian 10
The Mavericks used a pair of five-run innings and took advantage of eight errors by the Stars to win Game 1 of the series on Tuesday.
Winona actually led 3-0 after two innings before the wheels fell off and Manchester scored five in the bottom of the second and third to go up 10-3. Winona answered with four runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 10-7 but that was as close as the Stars got as the Mavericks scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth for a 15-7 lead. Winona added three runs in the top of the sixth for the final margin.
The Stars had just five hits in the contest but also drew 10 walks. Blake Marlow was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Shaw Ferguson drew two walks and scored twice. Jay Evans had a double, one RBI and scored twice.
Meridian Community College signee Austin Huggins got the start and pitched three innings, giving up 10 unearned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out one. Thomas Costilow pitched 2 inning of relief and gave up three runs on three hits and struck out two while Latham Hill pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up two runs on two walks and one hit. Reed Roberts pitched the final 1/3 of an inning and gave up just one hit.
Manchester 8, Winona Christian 1
After a slug-out in the Game 1 of the series, the Mavericks finished off the series with a dominant pitching performance.
No scoring information was made available for this contest.
