Apache catcher Kody Fuller makes a play at home. Photo by Gary Andrews

By Gary Andrews

The Wabash baseball team picked up two wins over Blackford Saturday, winning game one 5-4 and game two 10-3. The game one win was the first for head coach Jack Holley in his debut as the Apache coach.

Things didn’t look good for the Apaches starting game one as Blackford plated two runs in the top of the first, but Wabash would answer in the bottom. Kyle Kelsheimer led off with a walk but was caught in a rundown right before a Jordan Holley single. Treavor Floor would then double home Holley to make it 2-1. The Apaches would manufacture one more run with a walk, hit batter and a bunt to make it 2-2.

By Joseph Slacian

Micah Johnson, the Chicago White Sox’s rookie second baseman, has ties to Wabash County.

Johnson’s mother, Tanya (Airgood) Johnson, is a Manchester High School graduate. She attended Manchester College where she met Johnson’s father, Harold Johnson.

His grandmother, Peggy Boggs, and grandfather, Tom Airgood, still live in North Manchester.

“I just got back from Kansas City,” Boggs told The Paper of Wabash County on Friday. “I’m heading to Chicago on Saturday.”

Sue Clapp shows her winning basketball tourney selection sheet while Michael Lehman of Autumn Ridge presents her with the television she won in the contest which took place at the Dallas L. Winchester Senior Center. Photo by Joseph Slacian

By Joseph Slacian

A Wabash woman is the proud owner of a new, 42-inch flat-screen television.

The woman, Sue Clapp, won the television in a contest conducted at the Dallas L. Winchester Senior Center and sponsored by Autumn Ridge Rehabilitation Center.

Clapp and one other participant picked Duke to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Because two had picked Duke, the contest came down to a tie-breaker, and Clapp’s prediction of a 52-48 final score was closest to the final score, 68-63.

By Bill Barrows

Like millions of other people, I watch my share of sports on TV. As a person who has experience in sports casting on radio as well as WebTV, there are several things that really get under my skin that the networks ask their announcers to do. Ask my wife, she hears my rants at least once a week.

I have been trying very hard to hold my tongue on this, but after watching the Final Four broadcasts, it put me over the edge. Now, before I rant on, please understand that a number of these points are contractual with the networks, so coaches and managers are obligated to do these things. CBS pays the NCAA millions of dollars a year to broadcast the Final Four. ESPN, FOX, and NBC do the same thing on various sports including the World Series, NCAA Football , the NBA, the NFL including the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

By Bill Barrows

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a baseball nut. Several years ago when Baskins-Robbins had as one of their 33 flavors, “Baseball Nut;” my daughter  thought it was named for me. The ice cream concoction was vanilla ice cream laced with raspberry swirl with cashews. I liked it, but not as much as the game itself……and I’m still waiting on my royalties from Baskin-Robbins.

As the dawn of a new baseball season unfolds, I am ready. The final game of the World Series in the fall is bittersweet for me. It celebrates the culmination of a great postseason. But it also means there is no more baseball until spring. I count down the days until spring training starting about Nov. 1. I follow the hot stove league, which is the activity of all of the teams in making trades and signing free agents all winter long. But I live for the beginning of April.