Twin Rivers, Greenville to play in final

The action continued on Tuesday with East Carter, Greenville, Naylor and Twin Rivers meeting in the semifinals of the Ozark Foothills Conference Baseball Tournament at Three Rivers College. While a quick start at the plate helped one team move on, the other relied on defense for a spot in the

finals.

East Carter and Greenville kicked off the day to determine which team will play in the OFC championship on Thursday and who will play for third place. Greenville managed to put the game away early with their first crack at home plate by scoring three quick runs to ease past East Carter 4-0.

Greenville’s Cooper Sturgeon got the game rolling with a triple line drive to left field to bring in the first run, and after a ground out, he would slash his way past home plate to tack on another run. Greenville continued to dominate in the same inning with another ground ball hit from William Friley, giving the Bears a 3-0 lead.

In the next few innings, neither team collected any runs. For a spot in the championship game, Greenville heavily relied on their defense to close out East Carter.

East Carter coach Ethan Boyer said he was proud of how his team played despite the loss against a really good team.

“We were up against the wall playing against Greenville,” Boyer said. “I’m happy with how we competed, and we played a respectable game. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively, and that’s a credit to (Trey) Porter, he pitched a great game.”

East Carter will face off against Naylor on Thursday for third place. Boyer said they would use their next practice to get more reps behind the plate and hopes it makes a difference in landing some runs in their next game.

“We just need to be more aggressive offensively,” Boyer emphasized. “It doesn’t matter how runs you give up if you can’t score any. We’ll have a good practice tomorrow and hopefully come back and put up some runs on Thursday.”

East Carter will face Naylor on Thursday at noon at Three Rivers College.

TWIN RIVERS 3, NAYLOR 1

A standout performance on the mound from Drew Solomon helped Twin Rivers land a spot in the OFC championship.

The semifinal matchup between the Twin Rivers Royals and the Naylor Eagles was a defensive battle, as neither team wanted to give up an edge at the plate. Both teams were strong on the mound, but the Royals were stronger at the plate in their 3-1 victory over Naylor.

For most of the game, both teams relied on their pitchers to keep the game neck-and-neck, and neither disappointed, with no runs collected in the first five innings. Momentum would quickly pick up for Twin Rivers as Soloman, the man with the hot hand, connected on a single hit to right field to bring in the first run for the Royals.

After a hard-fault battle to gain the upper hand, the Royals sealed their fate to the championship with a ground ball hit from Cayden Acre to bring in another run.

Solomon earned the win on the mound for Twin Rivers. The righty allowed one hit and one run over seven innings, striking out seven and walking one. Chase Dillinger took the loss for Naylor. He went six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits, striking out two and walking two.

Kendell Austin, Luke Hester, Bo Lilly, and Solomon each collected one hit for Twin River. Lilly and Solomon each drove in one run, and the Royals didn’t commit a single error.

Sam Rose went 1-for-3 at the plate to lead Naylor in hits. Nathan Lunsford led the team with one run batted in.

Twin Rivers will play Greenville on Thursday at 2 p.m. for the OFC championship at Three Rivers.