Wolves hold off Panorama rally in district baseball opener

 MANILLA (July 8) -- IKM-Manning senior Sam Gross escaped bases-loaded jams in both the sixth and seventh innings Saturday night, helping the Wolves preserve an 8-6 win over Panorama in the opening round of the Class 2-A, District 15 baseball tournament.
 IKM-Manning led 7-0 after two innings but struggled to put the finishing touches on a Panther team that closed out the season 4-18 overall.
 Gross, the Wolves’ third pitcher of the night, entered the game with the bases full and one out in the top of the sixth and recorded a strikeout and ground ball to protect his team’s two-run lead. One inning later, Gross created his own two-out mess with two walks and a hit batsman before striking out Panther leadoff man Luke South with three straight curveballs to end the game and notch his fourth save.
 IKM-M improved to 12-14 overall and will now play at Tri-Center (19-4) in a district semifinal Tuesday night at approximately 7 p.m.
 “We’ve got some things obviously we need to clean up, but I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty, so we’ll advance and go on to the next one,” said IKM-M head coach Cory McCarville.
    Alex Heiman went 3-for-4 at the plate for IKM-M while Johnson was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk. Cody Chapman (2 runs) added one hit and Grant Stracke had two RBI.