Bears grab third-straight OFC title

The Greenville Bears went into Thursday’s Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament final with back-to-back titles under their belts but the Bears would have to deal with the top-seeded Royals of Twin Rivers if they wanted to make it a three-peat.

Benji Stahl’s team delivered in bunches as they cruised by the Royals 10-0 en route to their third-straight championship. In the day’s first game, Naylor stunned East Carter 5-3 to take home the third-place trophy.

Championship

Greenville 10, Twin Rivers 0 (5 innings)

Greenville senior Talan McDaniel has now been a part of three Ozark Foothills Conference Championships for the Bears baseball program as they took down Twin Rivers 10-0 in five innings on Thursday at Three Rivers.

Coming into the game, McDaniel had a goal for the Bears.

“Show them what we’ve got,” he said. “We’ve been here before. After the first inning it just feels like another game.”

McDaniel had a three-run cushion before he ever took the hill as the Bear batters used watchful eyes to score three runs off of Twin Rivers starter Luke Hester.

While it was walks in the first inning, Greenville’s bats came alive in the second as head coach Benji Stahl gave the Royals starter his due.

“He throws it hard,” Stahl said of Hester. “Once you see him, once you go through the lineup, it gets easier.”

McDaniel had a pair of walks in the first inning but settled down as his team plated two more to give him a 6-0 advantage after two frames.

“Do my job,” he said was his mindset with the lead. “Keep them from rolling. As long as we keep them from getting runnings on base. After that first inning, those walks, I told myself you can’t do that. Teams like that, they’re a good team and I can’t give free bags up because they’ll capitalize.”

The first five batters for the Bears combined for seven hits and nine RBIs as Trey Porter finished with four RBIs while McDaniel helped himself with three RBIs at the plate. Eason Evans also added a home run, his first of the fall, in the top of the seventh.

Stahl said he had two questions of his team going into the game and they answered both for him.

“It’s like any other game,” he said. “You’ve got to hit strikes and throw strikes. Our fielding has been pretty good all year so I wasn’t worried about that. Whether we were going to hit it and throw strikes, that was the question.”

The Bears finish the fall with more than 20 wins and despite being the No. 2 seed coming into the week, Stahl said his team didn’t feel like it had a chip on it’s shoulder.

“It’s baseball,” he said. “You play that many games and you’re going to lose a few. We played them (Twin Rivers) the first itme, we played five or six games the week before and a doublebheader on that Saturday. We were playing well.”

The Bears continued that solid play as they end the season on a seven-game winning streak.

Stahl said this sets them up to hopefully check something else off of their list next spring.

“Our goal is to win a district title,” he said. “Our fall goal is to win the OFC. We just hope they can carry through.”

McDaniel also has goals but for him but he also enjoys the ride he’s been on with his teammates the past few years.

“I’ve played with them single my freshman year,” he said. “We had a 7-14 record. We struggled my freshman year but I’ve grown up with these boys. I’ve seen them improve. Every single one of these kids, I would not change it for the world.”

Third-Place Game

Naylor 5, East Carter 3

Naylor’s Kyle Tubb dazzled on the mounds for 20 outs on Thursday against East Carter in the third-place game of the OFC Tournament as the pitch counter cost him the opportunity at a complete game victory.

But, the baseball Gods must have appreciated what Tubb did as the final out was caught in centerfield - by Tubb.

Naylor head coach Logan Foster was ecastic after the game as hit team was the talk of the tournament.

“I’m just so proud of my kids right now,” he said. “We have come a long way this fall ... I’m just super proud of my kids.”

Tubb was rolling on mound until a hotshot back up the middle caught his right leg.

The Redbirds would score two in the inning to cut the Eagle lead to 3-2 but that would be as close as East Carter would get.

“Kyle was pitching a good game then he gets hit,” Foster said. “He just gutted that thing out. He kept throwing strikes. You can’t say enough about a kid that puts out an effort like that. It’s just remarkable.”

Tubb said he wasn’t too concerned with his leg after the unforunate event.

“It’s just pain,” he said. “People have gone through worse, I’ve done worse. Gotta keep pitching for the team.”

Tubb also got the win for Naylor on Monday when they took down Neelyville and knows this week could be a stepping stone for the team moving forward.

“I feel like we can build off of this and make it better next season,” he said.

Colby Sullivan had two hits for Naylor from the top spot in the lineup as he and Caleb Moore added RBIs for the Eagles.

Tubb finished with five strikeouts and one earned run on six hits.

Benjamin Stahl led East Carter with two hits and two runs while William Baugus added two RBIs in the loss.