The Manhattan High baseball team defeated the Seaman Vikings in the first game of the double-header last Thursday night 3-2, but fell in the second game 6-1. The Indians were pleased with their performance and know work can be done to grow and improve for the rest of the season.

“I think the first game we did good,” junior Cade Perkins said. “We had a couple errors and gave up two runs. We also struggled hitting, we had way too many strikeouts. We came up big in the sixth inning with the two out double to score two. We could have done better in both games but at least we got one.”

Perkins was the star of their first game, as he had that two run double in the bottom of the sixth, and then scored himself from second on a ball that passed the catcher.

After all the excitement in the first game, there wasn’t much in the second for the Tribe. 

“The second game we struggled a bit,” junior Braden Dinkel said. “We had a few rough innings, too many walks, too many strikeouts. We had a rough first night but I think we know what we need to work on.”

Dinkel and Perkins said they need to work on getting ahead in the count and working on pitching and first pitch strikes. Before Washburn, the team needs to get better at making contact with the ball and feeling comfortable at the plate. 

A struggle for the Indians last Thursday was the amount of runners left on bases. The team left 13 runners left on base and only scored a run the whole game. Besides that, the team was pleased with the first night back on the diamond. 

“I thought it went better [than we thought] the first game,” Dinkel said. “We handled some things pretty good but still some stuff we’re behind on.”

The Indians will be back in the action on Friday at home against Washburn and will be looking for two wins in the double-header.

“We obviously wanted to get two wins,” Perkins said. “A split with one of the best teams in the state we’ll take any day.”