With Thursday’s regionals fast approaching, the Manhattan High baseball would have appreciated a sweep of Topeka West last Thursday, so as to grab the highest seed possible.

The Indians failed in that category, and perhaps frustratingly so, because a sweep of Topeka West would have allowed MHS to host regionals.

They did take a game, however, in a split. The Chargers took game one in walk-off fashion, 4-3, while Manhattan salvaged game two, 4-2.

The split puts the Indians at 11-9 for the season, good for a No. 3 regional seeding, pitting them against Olathe North Thursday in Topeka.

Junior Nick Wohler, who went 3-for-4 in game one, said the split, in a way, represents the season as a whole.

“Sometimes we’ll show up for both games, and then lately we’ve been not showing up for the first one but showing up for the second one,” Wohler said. “This week, we’re going to have to show up for both games.”

Headlining game two was Luke Grieger’s performance on the mound: the senior brought a no-hitter into the seventh inning, before Topeka West’s Skyler Proctor came through with a single. Still, though, Manhattan appreciated the outing.

“[Grieger] got ahead on batters; he didn’t walk many batters at all,” Wohler said. “And in the field, we were making plays.”

But for as sharp as Manhattan’s pitching was in the second game, it struggled in the first. The Indians grabbed a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning, but West tied it with a run each in the third and fourth innings. Senior Josh Chapman hit the Chargers’ Trevor Cregut with a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh, forcing in the game-winning run.

In addition to the pitching issues, Wohler added that his team’s offense was part of the problem in the first game.

“In the first game, we left a lot of guys on base,” he said. “Everybody hit the ball hard; it just wasn’t back-to-back when we needed it.”

Manhattan’s performance in the second game, however, was much cleaner. Grieger allowed just six baserunners total, including only two in the first six innings. On top of that, the Indians’ offense produced two runs each in the third and fifth innings, providing the run supported Grieger needed to escape with a win.

Junior Brady Woborny caught Grieger’s efficient effort.

“Luke was just getting a lot of strikes,” Woborny said. “Getting that first out. That’s big when you’re wanting to take control of the game…. He filled up the zone really good.”

So Manhattan is faced with an unfamiliar foe in Olathe North in the opening game of its regional bracket. If Washburn Rural knocks off 5-15 Gardner-Edgerton, the Indians will clash with the Junior Blues, a squad MHS swept last month.

Before that, though, Manhattan has a task on its hands in the Eagles. The first pitch is set for 2 p.m. Thursday.