Granville, OH - The Manchester Baseball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013 and started off against the #2 team in DIII, Denison University.

A second inning surge by the Big Red lead to an 8-2 defeat in game one of the Regional.

Manchester 2, Denison 8

Rocco Hanes (Ossian, Ind., Norwell) took the mound for the Spartans in Game One and had a strong first inning, however the Big Red were able to get on base in the 2nd which lead to a five-run inning putting the Spartans down early, 5-0. 

The Spartans fought back in the 4th after Joel Kennedy (Mooreland, Ind., Monroe Central) led off with a single and later scoring thanks to a RBI ground out from Vian Mariani (South Bend, Ind., John Adams). Following Mariani, Owen Ritchie (Kendallville, Ind., East Noble) singled down the right field line to bring in first year Cam Bortone (South Bend, Ind,, Mishawaka Marian) to make the ame 5-2. 

Denison would hold onto the game and score three more runs in the finals five innings to take Game One. 

The Spartans finished with six hits with Gavin Gleason (Brookston, Ind., Delphi Community) and Owen Ritchie leading the way with two hits each. Hanes pitched the entire game for the Spartans, giving up eight runs and striking out seven.

The Spartans will now play Penn State Behrend in the elimination game on Saturday at 12 Noon.