Late rally lifts Bears to C2D2 crown

VAN BUREN — The only thing better than a second consecutive Class 2 district championship for the Greenville High School baseball team is how the Bears won Wednesday’s district title game.

With two out and nobody on the bottom of the seventh inning in a tie game, Greenville strung together three hits in a row — with the final one a Talan McDaniel single that chased home Trevor Bratton with the winning run in a 4-3 win over East Carter Wednesday evening.

Greenville coach Benji Stahl described Wednesday’s district title win as a “good feeling.”

“I think they went in the game thinking they were supposed to win and it might have added a little pressure to them, but we squeaked one out,” Stahl said.

Trey Porter started the seventh-inning rally with a base hit left, then courtesy runner Bratton went to second on an infield single by Wyatt Friley. A passed back allowed both runners to move into scoring position, setting the table for McDaniel’s heroics.

McDaniel got the Bears on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a two-out double up the middle that scored Cooper Sturgeon and Porter to make it 2-0.

Cason Price scored on an error in the top of the third inning to get the Redbirds on the board and halve the Greenville lead, but the Bears got the run back in the bottom of the third.

East Carter did not give up, as Bryce Stahl responded with some two-out heroics of his own by connecting for a two-run single that scored Brenden Reynolds and Austin Hosentfeld to tie the score at 3-3.

McDaniel led Greenville with two hits and three RBIs. More than that, he also went the distance on the hill to earn the win, striking out seven and allowing just two earned runs.

“He threw strikes and and did what he was supposed to do,” Coach Stahl said. “He kept us in the game. We weren’t scoring runs and he gave us a chance at the end there.” Price led the Redbirds with two hits.

The Bears will travel to Bernie in Class 2 sectional action on Monday.