The past two weeks, Manhattan Indians baseball has been a freight train. Full acceleration. No brakes. A well-oiled machine.
The Indians (17-4) are on a seven-game win streak ahead of their regular season finale against Great Bend on May 13.
“[Our biggest strength is] the camaraderie of the team,” senior Carter Goodpasture said. “I feel like they are all my best friends and we all have a great time together, but we also get down to work pretty hardcore. Our coaching staff has helped us through the whole season…Getting us to score runners from third base, second base and scoring position. Those are big points, and they’ve really been helping us with that kind of stuff.”
Most recently, the Indians competed in the Hays Classic Tournament, where they beat Life Prep 9-2 on May 9 and came out on top against Thomas More Prep 6-2 and Hays 10-2 on May 8.
“Our pitching gave us a shot each game,” Goodpasture said. “We had a pitcher on the mound that could get us there, our defense followed, and our offense followed as well. Having a pitcher that can throw strikes when needed and start the count early is very important, and can get us upper hand.”
The Indians swept Liberal at home on May 2. MHS won the first game 5-0 and the second game 8-3. In-between the games, 10 seniors were celebrated for their contributions to the program. The seniors included Goodpasture, Zach Conley, Jack Crocker, Brayson Gnirk, Jackson Goos, Cale Hewins, Maddox Hodges, Miles Mann, Sawyer Newton and Greyson Wassenberg.
“It was really cool seeing my parents,” Goodpasture said. “I mean, they’ve helped me through everything, and my dad has been a huge, huge part of my baseball career. So being able to recognize them and recognize myself in just my last year playing baseball was really special.”
The Indians will very likely enter the playoffs, which start this weekend, as the three-seed in Kansas 6A West.
“We’re pretty much locked in for three-seed at this moment,” junior Riland Bowyer said.
The top four seeds in the 6A West get the chance to host two playoffs games, meaning newly-renovated CiCo Park will be the site of postseason baseball for the first time.
“I think it’ll provide a big advantage because the team that we’re [likely] playing [Liberal], has a five and a half hour drive to play us as that’s a long drive,” Bowyer said.
The Indians will go into these playoffs with experience having finished fourth at last season’s State Tournament.
“It helps a lot,” Goodpasture said. “I mean, knowing what to expect [from] these big teams that we hear about all the time…knowing what they’re going to come with is pretty important. And seeing that kind of thing last year was a big part of why we want to get back this year.”
But before it’s playoff time, the Indians will play two games versus Great Bend at home to lock in seeding.
“They’re pretty good,” Bowyer said. “I mean, they have a guy that’s throwing upper-80s and almost 90, so that’ll be a good challenge.”
