MANTI—Since coming back from spring break, Manti baseball’s venture into the thick of region play has been met with a rough go.
The Templars went 1-2 in last week’s games, edging out the first of two games with Delta, 4-3, before losing to South Sevier, 10-9, and dropping game two against Delta, 9-4. Manti dropped to 5-5 on the season overall with a 1-2 region record.
A pair of close games landed on opposite sides of the Templars’ fortunes. With Delta, it was an early lead that Manti went the distance with. Against South Sevier, a late lead by the Templars vanished in the very end to hand Manti an unlikely loss.
Manti got ahead of the Rabbits early at the bottom of the first inning when a couple of stolen bases put runners on second and third base. Then, a line drive down left field from freshman Braxton Henningson sent both of them across home plate.
Delta tied it up at the top of the second with two runs before senior Jason Nelson scored another runner in the bottom of the inning for a 3-2 lead.
Senior Jax Parry put Manti ahead again at the bottom of the third inning with a steal home off a catcher error, and the Templar defense and pitching led the way in a scoreless game from there. Nelson claimed the win at the mound.
The Templars continued to look hot for the first half of the game against South Sevier the following day, sporting a 7-3 lead after the fourth inning.
Then, the pitching fell apart.
Manti sophomore pitcher Bryce Boehrer, one of five pitchers for Manti during the game, began to lose composure midway through the inning as an errant pitch went straight into the side of a batter’s helmet. The next batter for Delta got hit by pitch as well to load the bases for the Rabbits. Delta scored on the next batter by virtue of an unintentional walk.
As Manti’s pitching efforts continued to fall apart, Delta went on to score six runs over the final two innings and claim the win.
The Templars’ momentum continued to falter as Delta hosted the Templars for a second game of the week, cruising to a 9-4 victory in which they led, 9-1, before the final inning.
Manti currently sits at fourth place in Region 14. They will face North Sanpete this Tuesday, North Sevier this Wednesday, and North Sanpete again this Thursday. They will then host Juab next Tuesday.
