Paulik fights off illness to pitch extra-inning no-hitter vs. Manchester

Masterpiece matches Rensberger’s in softball; Reinartz gets go-ahead RBI on sac fly

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Carson Paulik

NORTH MANCHESTER — If you are looking for offense when the Rochester and Manchester baseball teams meet, you might not need to show up until the eighth inning.

But for sheer drama, you might need to get there for the first pitch.

And in a bit of history unique to the Three Rivers Conference since conference schools share the same conference softball and baseball schedules, you saw two Rochester pitchers throw no-hitters across a parking lot from each other on the same day Wednesday.

Carson Paulik made his history when the Rochester junior threw an eight-inning hitless masterpiece in the Zebras’ 2-0 win.

He outdueled Manchester super sophomore Harper Sturtsman, who allowed just five hits and one earned run himself over 7 ⅓ innings while striking out nine.

Class 2A, No. 3 Rochester improved to 12-1 overall and 3-0 in the TRC. Class 2A, No. 11 Manchester fell to 8-6, 2-1.

“We knew it would be a dogfight, and it sure was,” Rochester coach Cory Good said.

By the end, many Rochester softball players had wended their way to the baseball field approximately 150 yards away to root on their schoolmates. They had just participated in Bria Rensberger’s no-hitter in a 10-0 Lady Z win.

Now they were watching a no-hitter as spectators.

Afterwards, Paulik said he had been sick all day.

“It feels alright,” Paulik said. “It kind of overwhelms the fact that I don’t feel really good health-wise right now.”

How long had Paulik been sick?

“This morning,” he said. “I wasn’t going to miss this game.”

This marked the second straight time these teams have met where the game was scoreless going into extra innings. In a sectional quarterfinal at Wabash on May 23, 2024, Rochester scored three runs in the top of the eighth on Tanner Reinartz’s two-run double and Paulik’s RBI single and held on to win 3-2, stranding the potential tying run on third base to end the game.

Once again, Reinartz started the scoring, driving in the first run with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Linden Wilburn, and Brady Coleman later scored when Paulik’s grounder to shortstop was booted for an error with two outs.

Now Paulik needed three outs. He struck out Evan Estep. He struck out Teegan Snyder.

One out to go.

Brendyn Mugford then hit a grounder to third. The throw to first was wild for an error and ticked off first baseman Conner Dunfee’s glove. Mugford rounded first base, perhaps sensing he could advance to second. But the ball did not roll away far enough.

Dunfee picked up the ball and lunged and tagged Mugford as he tried to get back to first to finish off the no-hitter.

Mugford reaching on the error ended Paulik’s streak of 16 consecutive batters retired. 

“I hear that a lot from a bunch of people,” Paulik said when asked if he gets better as games go on. “That I feel like I throw harder as the game goes on. I get better and more dialed – more control.”

Manchester had three baserunners, and all of them were wiped off the bases:

• Reiss Gaerte walked with one out in the first, but Zakk Parks made a one-hop throw to shortstop Brady Coleman covering for a caught stealing.

• Davin Hendrix walked with one out in the third and reached second on a wild pitch. Cody Carroll struck out for the second out. Then Ethan Hendrix grounded to Reinartz at third. Reinartz pump-faked and froze Davin Hendrix and then chased him back to second and tagged him before he could get back.

• Mugford’s ill-advised rounding of the bag in the eighth.

There were other instances where Paulik’s defense helped him out:

• Right fielder Wilburn made a running catch on Sturtsman’s fly near the line to start the second.

• Second baseman Brant Beck made a running, sliding catch on Mugford’s potential blooper to lead off the third. Good later said it reminded him of Braxton McGlothin’s famous catch in the extra-inning win over Manchester that clinched a share of the TRC title in 2019.

• Dunfee tagged Davin Hendrix on the helmet on a potentially erratic throw to start the sixth.

Sturtsman retired six straight batters to start – four of them were strikeouts – before Dunfee led off the third with a single. He went to second on a wild pitch and third on a grounder to the pitcher. But Sturtsman struck out Drew Bowers and Coleman to end the inning.

Zakk Parks led off the fifth with a single to left, but Dunfee’s grounder to second turned into a 4-6-3 double play. Callen Ferverda singled, but catcher Mugford’s back-pick throw nailed Ferverda trying to get back to first.

Bowers led off the sixth with an infield single, and he stole second and took third on Parker Casper’s grounder to short. But Sturtsman got Reinartz on a routine fly to Gaerte in center to end the inning.

Beck reached on a two-base error with one out in the seventh, but Sturtsman struck out Parks looking and got Dunfee on a fly to right.

Finally, Rochester scored in the eighth. Ferverda, the designated hitter, walked, and Wilburn, the flex player, came in to run for him.

Wilburn advanced to second on a wild pitch. Bowers struck out on a pitch in the dirt, and as Mugford threw to Davin Hendrix to complete the strikeout, Wilburn raced to third and beat Hendrix’s throw across the diamond.

Coleman then walked.

Manchester coach Shane Smith took out Sturtsman – he had thrown 121 pitches, the maximum allowed, per IHSAA rules – and replaced him with Harlen Bean.

Coleman stole second.

Casper then grounded to third. Sturtsman, now playing third base, threw home. Wilburn raced back to third and beat the throw and was safe, and the bases were now loaded.

Reinartz followed with his sacrifice fly to medium-deep left.

“I think our guys just got more confident,” Good said. “We thought we’d see (Sturtsman) today. We talked a bunch about it, just our approach. He’s thrown a ton of pitches this year, and that’s what we wanted to see him do again this year was just get his pitch count elevated. He threw 62 (pitches) on Monday (against Wabash), so we know how our guys feel after doing that. You’re not 100%, so just try and go up there and eat pitches. Swing at pitches that we thought we could drive. I was proud of our approach tonight.”

All eyes were on Paulik at the plate. Soon all eyes would be on Paulik on the mound.

Paulik had not pitched since a 6-5 loss in eight innings to Culver Academy April 18. Paulik pitched five innings and allowed 11 hits in that game.

“Tremendous outing,” Good said. “For him to come off that CMA game where he probably had his ‘B’ game out there and to come out tonight, we gave him some extra rest. We wanted him full strength today ready to go. But extremely great, super efficient. He was in the 80s on his pitch count. Pitched eight innings, no-hitter. That’s the outing that we expect from Carson out on the mound. It sounds crazy to say, but that’s how much confidence we have in him, and we know that’s what he’s capable of.”

Rochester 2, Manchester 0 (8 innings)

Rochester 000 000 02 – 2 5 1

Manchester 000 000 00 – 0 0 2

WP – Carson Paulik (8 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K)

LP – Harper Sturtsman (7 ⅓ IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K)

XBH – (none)