IN A PICKLE … Evergreen’s Troy Manz (#1) gets caught in a rundown between third and home.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
CUT DOWN … Edon’s Gage Cisneros is tagged out at third base during last Friday’s non-league game at Evergreen. VIEW PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (April 17, 2026) — Too many walks and hit batters. Too many missed bunts and missed scoring chances. And way too many miscues in the field.
Despite having too many of the bad things that happen on a baseball field that can make a 6-0 lead disintegrate, Chris Shrader’s bases-loaded bunt single in the bottom of the seventh overcame every one of those earlier mistakes to push Evergreen past Edon, 7-6.
“We found a way to win,” Viking coach Chris Owens said. “I mean, hats off to Edon.
“The longer we let them hang around, they kept fighting, and big credit to the coaching staff over there for keeping their guys in the game.
“They were one pitch away themselves from making the game a lot more interesting.” The Vikings jumped out to a big lead, getting five runs off Edon starter Kaden Stantz.
Jake Farley walked, stole second and raced home on Shrader’s hustle double to left. Two more walks and a wild pitch made it 2-0 and ended the day for Stantz, bringing Korbin Olds to the hill.
Austin Burghardt bounced a single up the middle to plate two more Vikings and later scored on a wild pitch to cap the inning.
Shrader’s second double of the game and an RBI single from Brendan Holman plated a sixth Evergreen (3-5) run in the second.
Troy Manz breezed through the first eight Edon hitters, striking out five of them.
However, Shrader booted Brady Hand’s grounder with two down in the third, and Gage Cisneros made the Vikings pay when he doubled down the left-field line to mark the Bombers’ first run.
The Vikings threatened in the third when Manz and Blake Boucher singled with no one out, and after Boucher stole second, Evergreen had runners on second and third.
After not getting a bunt down, Olds got Nolan Hudik on strikes. Then Zack Kruzel’s bunt went right to Olds, who made the play at the plate to cut down Manz.
A hit batter and an error set up Edon in the fifth. A passed ball scored one run, and another came home when Brady Hand’s fly ball was misplayed into a single.
Stantz made it 6-4 with a base hit to left, but Burghardt shot down a second runner trying to score, and the Vikings got Stantz in a rundown to escape further damage.
Manz left after the fifth, allowing zero earned runs on three hits while striking out seven and walking two. Shrader got the first man in the sixth, but a walk, hit batter and a stolen base put the Bombers (1-7) at second and third.
A groundout scored one run to make it 6-5, but an errant throw on a back-pick attempt at third went awry, allowing the tying run to cross the plate.
Base hits from Shrader and Holman in the sixth put the Vikings on second and third with one out, but lefty Lane Brandt got a pair of pop-ups to short to end the threat.
The bottom of the order set up the winning rally for the Vikings in the bottom of the seventh.
Boucher drew a walk against Corbin Chrisman to start the inning. Hudik beat out a bunt, and when Chrisman’s throw was wide at first, Boucher romped to third.
An intentional walk loaded the bases, but Chrisman got Farley on strikes, bringing Shrader to the plate.
The junior infielder, who already had three hits in the game, got his fourth when he dropped a perfect bunt down the third-base line that no one could make a play on to bring home the winning run.
“Those guys had some moments in the game they aren’t proud of,” Owens said with a smile about the group that created the winning rally.
“In the seventh inning, they found a way to flush it and executed when they had to to win us a game. But obviously, it’s still a work in progress.”
Shrader also got the win on the mound, working the final two innings and giving up one earned run on one hit.
EDON 001 032 0 – 6 5 3
EVG 510 000 1 – 7 14 3
WP- Chris Shrader (IP-2.0, H-0, R-2, BB-3, K-2)
LP- Corbin Chrisman (IP-0.1, R-1, BB-2, K-1)
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Chris Shrader – double, 3 singles, 2 RBIs; Brendan Holman – 2 singles, RBI; Austin Burghardt – 2 singles, RBI. (Edon) Gage Cisneros – double, RBI; Brady Hand – 2 singles, RBI.