By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Callaway Cavaliers improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 9-0 home win over Manchester on Thursday.

Callaway, which hasn’t given up a run in wins over Carver and Manchester, will likely face a much tougher task on Saturday when it heads to Westminster for a doubleheader.

That’ll be the start of a challenging stretch of games for the Cavaliers as they look to get ready for the start of Region 5-AA play on March 13.

“Our next five or six games are going to be tough,” Callaway head coach Dusty Hubbard said. “And it needs to be. We need to find out what we have.”

For the second straight day, Callaway’s pitching was tremendous.

Wesley Marchman started and pitched the first four innings, and Walt Stewart Austin Barber and Dawson Wright each threw one scoreless inning.

Leadoff hitter Drake Wade had two hits, and he has reached base on every at-bat through two games.

“Drake, he’s a good little player,” Hubbard said. “He plays the game the right way, and he did does a great job of getting on base.”

Chandler Lott and Braelin Mitchell also had two hits for Callaway.

TROUP: In a rematch of a second-round playoff series from a year ago, it was Troup blanking Hardaway 12-0 in a game that ended after five innings because of the run rule.

Garrett Casey made his pitching debut for Troup, and he looked strong, throwing four shutout innings while limiting Hardaway to two hits and nine strikeouts.

Colton Webb finished it with a scoreless fifth inning.

Offensively, Cade Garner had three of Troup’s 12 hits, and he also drove in two runs.

Caleb McCurry had a hit and three RBIs, and Cooper Doughman had two hits with a double and two RBIs.

Kenly Bridwell had a double with two RBIs, Ryan Bliss had a double and one RBI, and Colby Williams had a hit and an RBI.

Brantly Robinson had two hits and two runs scored, and Casey had a hit.