Greenville gets timing right to slip past district foe Chaffee in state-ranked baseball battle

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Talk about timing.

Moments before the skies opened up for good, the Greenville baseball team found its timing at the plate, scoring two times on three hits in the top of the fifth inning to break a 2-2 tie and pull out a 4-2 win over Chaffee in a rain-shortened, five-inning contest at Harmon Field.

In a potential preview of a district tournament showdown between two state-ranked sides, the Bears (18-1) finally figured out Red Devil starting left-hander Andrew Brown, who baffled Greenville with slower velocity, scattering five hits over 4 1/3 innings on the mound, with only two of the four runs allowed being earned.

"A guy like that, you extend your zone a lot early in the count," Greenville coach Jeff Null said. "They think, 'I can hit this, it's coming so slow.' We did that early on and popped up a lot and saw a lot of fly balls. I think as the game went on we got our timing a little bit and stayed on top of balls and got ground balls and low line-drive base hits. That's a mental thing. We can't wait until the fifth inning next time to make that adjustment.

"Offensively, we got our timing there and it just worked out it happened the second the rain hit. It kind of went our way today as far as that goes."

Chaffee (16-7) had some success hitting the baseball against Greenville's No. 2 starter Trent Tompkins, but left runners in scoring position on three occasions and had a runner thrown out at third to end the inning on another.

"I was very pleased with the way we swung the bats early," Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. "We had opportunities and cashed in a few. We had more opportunities but Tompkins beared down, and I was really impressed with him -- he threw a lot of curveballs behind in the count. He looks like the type of pitcher who's thrown a lot in his life and he's not afraid to throw any pitch at any time, and in high school baseball that's such a weapon. He had faith in his stuff today."

Tompkins got the win in five innings of work, giving up two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

The decisive inning began when Brown hit Grant Miller with a pitch with one out in the top of the fifth, before giving up three straight singles, the last of which, by Jack Becker, drove in a run to put the Bears on top, 3-2.

One out and two batters later, Chaffee reliever Lane Dunning issued a full-count walk to Wyatt Barks to force in another run.

Dunning escaped the inning by getting Trey McDaniel -- a junior commit to Southeast Missouri State -- to fly out to center field, but the Devils were unable to muster a response in the bottom half of the inning, and the rain only got heavier.

"We would have liked to have kept playing," Horrell said, "but all in all, with the way the forecast is this week ... You want to play a few games before districts, so I'm glad we got this one in.

"It was a good opportunity as a measuring stick. Brown's thrown good for us this year, but he's not our 1 or 2; he threw good today. We threw him because we're trying to set up our rotation for the playoffs. We didn't want to show them anybody else -- sometimes that's a little overblown in high school -- but he did a great job for us today. If the defense played well behind him, he could have been sailing right along.

"You could tell they're good hitters and they were just out in front of it a little bit. But the third time through the lineup they made some adjustments and kind of got to him. I thought the first two runs we gave them, but toward the end they were finally getting to [Brown]. Tip your hat to them."

Chaffee's defense let it down in the early going, committing two errors in each of the first two innings, and allowing Greenville to plate a runner each time to take a 2-0 advantage after two innings.

"Our game plan was to throw a softer-throwing lefty against them to see if we could get them off stride a little bit, and it worked early, and unfortunately our defense just didn't make plays," Horrell said. "By the same token, they took advantage of those opportunities. That's what a good ball club will do."

Each time, though, the Red Devils responded. They knotted things at 1-1 in the first inning after Landon Tenkhoff led off with a base-on-balls, and Austin Copland blooped a one-out single to shallow center. Gabe Henson then came through with a one-out base hit to right to bring Tenkhoff home.

In the second inning, Chaffee opened with back-to-back singles and Alec Bogenpohl drove in a runner with a two-out base hit to make the score 2-2.

Greenville is the host and top seed in the Class 2 District 1 tournament, slated to begin Saturday. The Bears will have a quarterfinal bye.

Chaffee, the third seed, will face sixth-seeded Puxico at 2 p.m.

In the meantime, both teams will hope to dodge inclement weather and squeeze in another game or two before the postseason begins.

"Our message is don't overlook anyone in districts," Horrell said. "We've got Puxico on Saturday, and that's going to be our focus -- the Puxico Indians. Because we don't get to play another game if we don't focus on them."

Greenville 110 02 -- 4 5 1

Chaffee 110 00 -- 2 6 5

WP -- Trent Tompkins. LP -- Andrew Brown. 2B -- Kade Sullivan (CH).