FARMINGTON -- Cardinal baseball coach Jay Harper may have found the right formula at an optimum time with the postseason coming up.
Talented senior starting pitcher Tyler Gregg paced himself at Harper's nudging and threw a complete game with 13 strike-outs as the Cardinals beat 5A West rival Alma, 6-0, Thursday. The victory improved Farmington to 17-8 overall and 8-2 in conference play. The turnaround was impressive after Gregg struggled the week before in an April 14 home loss of 7-3 to Greenwood.
Greenwood 7, Farmington 3
After committing a throwing error trying to pickoff a runner at first, a Greenwood base-runner went to third. The next two pitches were balls, then Cooper Van Kooten blasted an RBI double into the right corner scoring the first of 5 Bulldog runs on 5 hits in a decisive fifth inning. Greenwood led 2-1 coming into the fifth and emerged with a 7-1 advantage when the inning was over.
Connor Noland reached on an error with Van Kooten going to second. Gregg recorded a strike-out, but issued a walk to load the bases. The Bulldogs were feeling the momentum swing and Dylan Montgomery cashed in with a 2-run single pushing Greenwood's lead to 5-1. Gregg struck out Ryan Reeves for a second out, but Jake Smith beat a throw to first and dealt a grounder to shortstop that was hard to handle. With two outs and the bases loaded, Ronnie Berg was batting when he got turned by a pitch.
The home plate umpire ruled the pitch a ball, a 1-0 call that hurt Farmington, when Berg pounded a 1-2 pitch to drive in two more Bulldog runs. Although Farmington scored a pair of runs in the seventh, they could not overcome the deficit and lost, 7-3.
The Bulldogs tied the game at 1-1 with Van Kooten's RBI single in the third. Greenwood added another run with two outs in the fourth on a triple by Smith. Farmington catcher Tripp Cheney almost made a tag at the plate on the play.
Farmington 6, Alma 0
Gregg complied with the game-plan and went the distance, pitching a shutout against Alma. With two outs in the second, Gregg hit Alma starter Parker Edwards with a pitch, then gave up a single into center field. The runners advanced on a wild pitch, but Gregg ended the threat with a strike-out when he caught Lane Caldwell looking.
"Tyler loves to strike people out, what we're trying to do is to get Tyler to let the defense play," Harper said. "Today they hit some flyballs but we caught them. He kept his pitch-count down and was able to get into the seventh inning. When he goes, we go. He did an outstanding job today."
Ryan Larkin led off the third with a double into left field, going to third on Blake Putnam's ground-out. Gregg (2-for-4) helped his cause by stroking a double off a 3-1 pitch that plated Larkin for a 2-0 Farmington edge. In the fourth, Gregg struck out Zac Henson in 4 pitches. Cardinal center fielder Trenton McChristian robbed Keesler Nye of a base hit with a catch made while diving face first onto the grass. Gregg induced a ground-out to end the inning.
Farmington left two runners on base in the bottom of the fourth, but Gregg retired the Airedales in order in the top of the fifth. Three consecutive singles by Putnam, Gregg and Kelton Price (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) resulted in another run. Cade Fenton moved a runner to third with a sacrifice fly, and Eric Hill laid down a sacrifice bunt to score one more Cardinal run. Eric Morales (2-for-2) extended Farmington's lead to 5-0 by belting an RBI double.
"We got one run in the first and another one later on," Harper said. "We thought if we get to five, we're going to win the way Tyler was pitching. We bunted one in with a safety squeeze. Eric Hill had a great bunt there. We did a good job of playing small-ball and manufacturing some runs. Our kids did a great job of getting key hits when we needed them. Ryan Larkin and Kelton Price had key hits. In all, it was a total team effort, all the way through the lineup."
Larkin doubled to the right field wall with one out in the sixth. With a pinch-runner on, the sixth and final Farmington run scored when Gregg reached on an error against Caldwell, who came on in relief for Alma. In the top of the seventh, Gregg induced a fly-out, then struck out a pair of Airdales swinging, sandwiched around a walk issued to Kyle McKeown.
Farmington 9, Clarksville 0
Fenton and Ben Silvis combined on a no-hitter to lead the Cardinals to a 5A West Conference victory over Clarksville on April 18. Fenton threw six innings and struck out 9. Silvis was picture-perfect in the seventh inning with 2 strike-outs. The Cardinals (16-8) made the outing rough against four Clarksville pitchers, who were pounded for 8 hits. Farmington had 3 extra-base hits in the game. Fenton was 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs, and Gregg belted a solo home-run.
Sports on 04/26/2017