MANZ ON THE MOUND … Evergreen’s Troy Manz pitched five innings in the Vikings’ 10-3 loss.
PHOTOS BY MARIO GOMEZ / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
TWO-RUN HOMER … Archbold’s Grayson Forward gets congratulations from head coach Jeff Brunswick after belting a 2-run home run. VIEW 127 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Mario Gomez
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
ARCHBOLD (May 13, 2026) — It took over two weeks to complete, but Archbold dealt Evergreen their second Northwest Ohio Athletic League loss in a 10-3 contest.
It was a costly loss for the Vikings who were playing for a chance for a share of the NWOAL title.
Patrick Henry finishes with a 6-1 league record to claim the title outright leaving Evergreen with sole possession of second place with a 5-2 record, 10-7-1 overall.
“We wanted to finish the league on a good note,” said Archbold head coach Jeff Brunswick. I was proud of how the boys came out today. I like how they came out and played hard.”
“Hat’s off to Archbold. They came out and hit the ball,” said Evergreen head coach Chris Owens. “It went their way today. It would have been nice to get a share of the title but the second season for us is starting.”
The contest, originally slated for April 27, had been postponed after an inning and a half because of rainy conditions.
The game started with Ethan Bowman pitching for the Streaks (19-4, 4-3 NWOAL) and he started the game off getting two outs before the Vikings’ Bryce Bolger singled to left.
Bolger got to second on a wild pitch and came home when Brendan Holman singled to center to give Evergreen a 1-0 lead.
Bowman gave up a walk but Holman was caught attempting to steal third base to end the inning. Archbold answered with a pair of runs in their half of the first.
Tripp Langenderfer singled to start the contest then moved to second after Troy Manz walked Isaiahs Gracia. After getting a fly ball out, Manz gave up a single to CJ Arroyo-Thompson to score Langenderfer and Gracia.
Arroyo-Thompson was cut down stealing second and Jace Bernath struck out to end the inning with a Blue Streak 2-1 lead.
Bowman set the Vikings down in order in the top of the second inning and after a discussion between the umpires and coaches, the game was called.
As the game resumed, the next batter for the Streaks was Wyatt Cline but a lineup change was made due to illness or injury and Grayson Forward replaced Cline in the lineup.
Forward went right to work, slapping a single to left. Bowman walked and Joe Williams came to the plate and doubled to deep center to score Forward from second.
With Bowman and Williams in scoring position, Max Burrowes doubled to left to score Bowman and leave Williams at third with the Streaks holding a 4-1 lead.
Manz got a ground out and a strikeout then went 3-0 to Collin Short before giving up the intentional pass to load the bases.
Arroyo-Thompson then walked on four straight pitches to bring in Williams from third. Manz struck Harrison Wyse out to end the inning but Archbold held a 5-1 lead.
The score remained that way until the bottom of the fifth. Wyse singled on a pop fly. Forward stepped to the plate and sent a bomb over the centerfield fence for a two-run homer for a 7-1 lead.
After two outs, the Bluestreaks had three straight hits to push across another run. Burrowes singled followed by a Langenderfer pop up that landed after the wind took it away from the infielder.
Gracia singled to center to score Burrowes. Evergreen got the final out of the inning but the Streaks held an 8-1 lead. In the sixth, Chris Shrader was hit by a Bowman pitch to reach first.
Bowman got the next two Vikings batters to strike out but Shrader stole second then moved to third on an errant throw from Langenderfer to second base.
Austin Burghardt singled to score Shrader to make it 8-2. Bowman got the final out on a strikeout to end the Viking rally.
Nolan Hudik relieved Manz on the mound for Evergreen and gave up consecutive hits to Arroyo-Thompson and Wyse.
Forward grounded out to first base but moved Arroyo-Thompson and Wyse up a base. Bowman had an infield pop out for the second out. Williams singled to center to score Arroyo-Thompson and Wyse to give the Streaks some insurance runs.
Burrowes flew out for the third out but Archbold now had a 10-2 lead going into Evergreen’s final at bats. Bowman remained on the mound for Archbold and got Blake Boucher to ground out for the first out.
Hudik doubled to keep the Vikings’ hopes alive. JJ Johnson struck out for the second out. Jake Farley singled to right to score Hudik to make the score 10-3. Shrader and Bolger walked to load the bases.
Holman came to bat and hit a pop up down the first base line that Bowman attempted to catch but the ball went off his glove but Forward was there to clean up the catch for the final out.
“We’ve worked really hard on competing every pitch,” said Owens. “The game is not over until you run out of outs.
“We are proud of our team today. It wasn’t going our way but they kept fighting.” “The kids work really hard on hitting,” said Brunswick. Every day they stay after practice working on their hitting. They have a lot of confidence right now.”
EHS 100 001 1 – 3 6 0
AHS 230 032 x – 10 15 1
WP- Ethan Bowman (IP-7, R-3, H-6, K-11, BB-4)
LP- Troy Manz (IP-5, R-8, H-12, K-3, BB-5)
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Austin Burghardt – single, RBI; Nolan Hudik – double; (Archbold) Grayson Forward – single, home run, 2 RBIs; CJ Arroyo-Thompson – single, 3 RBIs; Joe Williams – 2 singles, double, 3 RBIs.
