If the Coventry Comets were planning on being patient when facing Manchester's P.J. Slider, this was not the day to do so.

Slider, a sophomore pitcher for the Panthers, faced a troubling situation in the first inning and cruised the rest of the way as Manchester defeated the Comets 6-2 on Thursday, April 24.

Slider got the first two hitters of the game to fly out before facing trouble.  The next hitter, Steve Deckert walked and would come around to score on a single by Justin Harris but a base running gaffe ended the scoring threat and Slider was out of the trouble almost unscathed.

It was then Slider's time to relax and throw strikes as he let only two Comets passed first base for the rest of the game, giving up six hits and two runs over seven innings.
The Comets didn't score again until the sixth inning when Deckert, who reached on an error, scored from third base on a wild pitch.  By that time and the way Slider was throwing, the game was out of reach.

The Panthers offense gave Slider a more than necessary cushion as they were able to knock Comets starter Rob Kresowaty out after only pitching 2.0 innings.  Kresowaty retired the Panthers in order in the first, but designated hitter Ryan Wallace led off the second with a towering home run to left field.  The Panthers were able to add another run when Nick Ball scored on an RBI single courtesy of Kyle Jordan.

Junior Aaron Hunter led off the third with a single to left-center before sophomore Brandon Mattioli sent an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence and Kresowaty’s  day was done.  Kresowaty  left the game having given up four runs over 2.0 innings.  He struck out zero but did induce  one double-play.  Kresowaty was replaced, but the switch had little impact.

The relief was short lived, as the Comets got out of the second but not before loading the bases courtesy of a throwing error and hitting two Panthers back-to-back.
The Panthers continued their streak of scoring two runs per inning in the fourth.  Bobby Banner and Hunter both reached base on Comet fielding errors.  Mattioli then provided his third RBI of the day with a single to left field scoring Banner.  Two batters later Wallace hit a sacrifice fly to score Hunter.

Manchester's attack was aided by three Coventry fielding errors and a wild pitch.  They scored six runs on seven base hits.