Greenfield-Central’s Parker Rhodes picked up the win in Wednesday’s HHC victory over Yorktown.
The Daily Reporter File Photo
By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Wednesday night’s Hoosier Heritage Conference baseball matchup at Greenfield-Central’s Molinder Field between the Cougars and Yorktown was eerily similar to game No. 1 of the series played on Tuesday.
This time, though, the Cougars came away with the win.
Just like the Tigers (8-3, 6-2) on Tuesday, Greenfield-Central (8-3-1, 5-1) scored the winning run on a passed ball in the late innings. The sixth-inning run led to a 6-5 Greenfield-Central win, and moved them ahead of Yorktown and into second place in the HHC standings.
“Yeah, it was nice to win this one,” Greenfield-Central head coach Mark Vail said. “It was a very similar game to last night, too, almost an exact copy.”
It took just three pitches for Yorktown to pick up where they left off the night before. With the wind blowing out, leadoff hitter Cole Temple wasted no time sending one over the left-center fence.
Back-to-back doubles by the Cougars’ No. 3 and No. 4 hitters— Andrew Zellers and Connor Sims – tied things right back up in the bottom half of the inning. And then, a four-run third in which the Cougars hit two home runs gave them the lead.
After a lead off double by Kirk Knecht, Yorktown starting pitcher Landon Case retired the next two batters, but with two outs, Greenfield-Central reeled off three consecutive extra base hits.
Sims launched his second home run of the season to score Knecht and give G-C the lead, and after a Brodie Mayberry double, A.J. Oden followed suit with a two-run home run of his own.
“We were very patient tonight, which was good,” Vail said. “Against that first pitcher who threw slower, we stayed back and were able to make some things happen.”
After the first inning Yorktown run, Greenfield-Central starting pitcher Jaden Markus settled in before control issues and miscues in the field led to a pair of Yorktown fifth-inning runs.
A walk, hit-by-pitch and error led to the Tigers scoring two runs without recording a hit. Jayce Key brought in the first run on a sacrifice fly, and on a steal of second base, the Cougars allowed the other base runner to cross the plate.
“[Jaden] settled in really well. We knew when we walked out here tonight that the wind was blowing out, so if you hit the ball well, it was going to get out of here. And there were even some balls that weren’t hit too well that carried,” Vail said. “He settled in and pitched really well. He’s a mature kid and didn’t let it bother him.”
The Tigers used two hits in the sixth off of sophomore Parker Rhodes to tie it 5-5, but it was Rhodes that would get the last word.
After a leadoff double by Oden to open the bottom half of the inning, Rhodes ripped a double to give the Cougars runners on second and third with no outs.
“In that last inning, we had some really good at-bats,” Vail said. “Kids stayed alive and fouled balls off, and we preach that. They just really fought and were able to get us a run.”
On a fly ball to center field by Landon Brooks, Oden was thrown out at the plate, for the Cougars’ third base-running miscue of the game.
“There’s an awful lot that we have to clean up,” Vail said. “If you’re going to be aggressive, you’re going to make mistakes. Sometimes we just don’t know when we should be aggressive, and when we shouldn’t be.”
Just one pitch later, though, Rhodes scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run on a passed ball.
And in the seventh, he shut the Tigers’ offense down. Working around a walk, he struck out two and got pinch-hitter Mark Avila to fly out to right field to end the game.
“Parker’s at the other end of it. He’s younger, and learning, but again, really pleased with how he looked,” Vail said. “This was a high-pressure situation, a conference game, and a tight game. You don’t want to make a mistake and he did a really nice job at the end.”
Rhodes got the win for the Cougars, pitching two-plus innings, allowing two hits, two runs and striking out five. Markus went four-plus innings, struck out eight, and gave up three runs on four hits.
Offensively, both Sims and Oden were 2-for-3 with a home run and double. Sims led the Cougars with three RBI.
Greenfield-Central hosts Southport Friday at 6 p.m.
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Greenfield-Central 6, Yorktown 5
Yorktown (8-3, 6-2);100;022;0; — ;5;6;1
Greenfield-Central (8-3-1, 5-1);104;001:x; — ;6;10;1
Landon Case, Landen Eppard (3), Jackson Furnish (6) and Jayce Key. Jaden Markus, Parker Rhodes (5) and Brodie Mayberry. 2B: Y – Peyton Fields, Key, Furnish; G-C – Andrew Zellers, Connor Sims, Kirk Knecht, Brodie Mayberry, A.J. Oden, Rhodes. HR: Y – Cole Temple (2); G-C – Sims (2), Oden (2). WP: Parker Rhodes (1-0). LP: Landen Eppard (0-2).
