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GREENCASTLE BASEBALL SECTIONAL FINAL: Tiger Cubs break 30-year drought; Gregg continues hold on Clovers in 12-0 win
Whatever voodoo Bryton Gregg holds over Cloverdale doesn’t appear to be disappearing anytime soon.
The Greencastle freshman ran his scoreless streak to 18 innings against the Clovers over the course of three outings while the Tiger Cub bats were hot early in the championship game of IHSAA Baseball Class 2A Sectional No. 44, leading the school to its first baseball sectional title in 30 years with a 12-0 win in five innings.
“It feels great,” Greencastle head coach Ben Wells said about breaking the sectional drought. “These guys have bought in since day one and it’s probably the most fun I’ve had coaching here in the eight years I’ve been here.
“They’re great kids, they’ve worked hard, done everything we asked them to do and they deserve this.”
The hosts, playing as the visitors thanks to the bye in the sectional draw, spotted Gregg a 3-0 lead before getting onto the mound as Sam Gooch laced the first pitch of the game into center field before Gregg drew a walk.
Nathan Sutherlin brought both runners in with a triple and scored on an error off the bat of Ashton Dayhuff.
Layton Allen would avoid any further damage on the mound but was yanked in the following inning for Caiden Watts.
By that time, the lead had grown to 5-0 as Sutherlin singled in Owen Huff, later scoring on a Dayhuff double.
“Layton threw against us in the county tournament earlier this year and we only scored three runs off him over the course of the game,” Wells said about getting to the senior early. “He did a great job against us the whole game, so to bust out our bats and get him out of there early was a big, big win for us early.”
“(Greencastle) hit the ball well tonight,” Cloverdale head coach Charlie Lee said. “We couldn’t get anything going, which is a credit to (Gregg) and when we did make contact, the defense fielded it, which is what you ask for.
“That’s a really good ball team. We got our heads down when they added runs and tonight, the better team won.”
Watts worked around two walks in the third but a walk to Sutherlin in the fourth would be punished on a Trevin Long single to make it 6-0.
Gregg, meanwhile, struck out seven of the first nine Clovers he saw, allowing his only baserunner in the fourth after walking Ben Campbell, though Campbell was caught stealing three pitches later to end the inning.
“I know some of the guys pretty well, so it gives me a little extra umph,” Gregg said about his scoreless streak against the Clovers. “I’ve wanted to play varsity for a long time and followed Greencastle for a while, so it meant a lot to be the starter tonight.
“Having the run support behind me felt good and we just kept adding on to it.”
“Bryton is a gamer,” Wells added about the freshman pitcher. “We knew Sam was struggling with his arm a little bit but having Bryton on the mound, we have all the confidence in the world in him.
“The confidence and composure that kid has as a freshman, putting him in against big teams in big games, is impressive. He handled himself well and our team played really well behind him.”
Watts walked the first three batters to start the fifth and was pulled for Tayt Jackson, who got a fielder’s choice to get the lead run at home and a groundout that saw a run come in to make it 7-0 at the cost of the second out.
The third out simply wouldn’t come for Cloverdale as Dayhuff hit his second double of the night to plate two runs, later scoring on a Long single. Treyten Clark singled to plate Long before scoring on a wild pitch to make it 12-0.
Gregg did the rest, getting a groundout, strikeout and fly out to end the game and Greencastle’s sectional drought after the last sectional title came in 1994.
Cloverdale finishes the season 10-11, making its second-straight sectional final appearance along the way.
“These guys are making progress and we need to keep making that progress to get to where we want to go,” Lee said. “Eventually, we’re going to get to the point where we’re playing in finals on a regular basis and people are going to pick us to be the favorite. That’s the goal.
“With that said, we also say good luck to Greencastle on Saturday because we want to see the county teams succeed.”
The Tiger Cubs will face Covenant Christian on Saturday at a time and date to be announced on Wednesday by the IHSAA.
Greencastle 320 16 — 12 10 0
Cloverdale 000 00 — 0 0 2
WP — Gregg 5 IP, BB, 10 K
LP — Allen IP, 3 R (3 ER), 3 H, BB
3B — Sutherlin
2B — Dayhuff (2)
RBI — Dayhuff (4), Sutherlin (4), Long (2), Clark