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Tiger Cubs blast Eagles, wins 3rd straight
For the third time in a week the Greencastle baseball team defeated South Putnam in big fashion. They opened their week with a 32-0 win over the Eagles and wrapped up their week with an 18-1 win in the Putnam County Classic championship game.
The win marks the third consecutive County Classic win for the Tiger Cubs and head coach Troy Remsburg said the third felt just as good as the first.
"It feels great. They came ready today and flipped a switch and it showed both games. We hit the ball very well," Remsburg said.
Getting off to a good start is essential for a team and GHS didn't waste any time going to work. They sent 15 batters to the plate in top of the first inning, had seven hits and when all was said and done, had put 11 runs on the board.
Ryan Battin got the 11-run inning started with a double to left field He was joined on base by Tanner Parker and Jesse Vermillion. On his first pitch, starting first baseman Landon Miller smashed a shot to the gap in right-center field for a double, scoring the trio of teammates.
He was brought home when Keegan Remsburg crushed his first of two triples on the night. Later in the inning, Parker and Vermillion connected on back-to-back doubles to keep the Tiger Cubs rolling.
Greencastle added a run in both the third and fourth inning to go up 13-0 on the Eagles through four innings of play.
On the flip side, South Putnam wasn't able to get back the offense it displayed in the first game. They struggled at the plate, sending a total of 13 batters to the plate over the course of four innings. Grant Zimmerman reached on a walk and Sawyer Arnold hit a single to centerfield.
With the game well in hand, Greencastle's bats refused to settle down. A double by Vermillion and a triple from Remsburg highlighted a five-run fifth inning that put the Tiger Cubs up 18-0 and a half inning away from hoisting the County Bucket and trophy once again.
South Putnam brought in some players off the bench and they helped ignite a stagnant Eagle offense. Tanner Thompson was first to the plate and ripped a shot that GHS second baseman Joe Lenihan snagged with a Sportcenter-worthy diving catch. Blake Doolin reached on a walk after a nice at bat and Wyatt Nees joined him on base with a single off Lenihan's glove.
Justin Bumgardner delivered South Putnam it's only run of the day after he hit a shot to right field to score Doolin. Lead off batter sent a stinger at the feet of shortstop Keegan Remsburg, who snagged it to end the contest.
South Putnam head coach Ryan Gilman acknowledged it was a tough championship game for his squad.
"It was," Gilman confessed. "Greencastle's been playing really well the last week and we've gotten a chance to see them three times this week and they hit the ball really well all three times. They hit it where we weren't and they had good pitching and good defense."
South Putnam reached the championship game by defeating Cloverdale 6-1 in the second game of the tournament. South Putnam was able to capitalize on six Cloverdale errors to gain an advantage.
Aaron Parker had a home run and an RBI, with Cody Heller adding a double and an RBI. A defensive highlight for the Eagles was when Heller gunned down Ethan Atwood at the plate from left field to prevent a Clover run.
Austin Mannan was 1-for-3 with a double and Josh Burdette was 2-for-3 with a double.
"I thought we played really well," Gilman said. "I thought we came out and took advantage of our opportunities that we had early in the game. We hit the ball much better and cut down strikeouts. We put the ball in play and had some timely hits, which really helped.
"Also, Grant pitched really well for us the first game and A.P. (Aaron Parker) came in and did a good job there in the second game," he added.
Greencastle earned its championship game spot by defeating North Putnam 7-1.
The Tiger Cubs scored all seven of its runs in the first two inning and limited the Cougars to just three hits in its win. Parker, Andy Bell and Remsburg all had doubles and an RBI each.
North Putnam's Blake Knowling had two singles and Jake Haste added a single to account for the Cougars' hits.
Greencastle is being to roll at the right time with sectional about two weeks away. An added plus for Greencastle is the fact they will be hosting the sectional this year. But Remsburg said his team needs to understand they need to bring their A game every time out.
"I'm at a loss for words right now," Remsburg said. "They're hitting now the way they should be hitting. It's been hit and miss and we've lost some games where we didn't hit the ball. Sometimes they don't realize what they've got. The first game against South Put last week, I think we had 24 hits and then the next game against them we started out slow, I think it was 2-1, then they flipped the switch again and started hitting the ball."
He said was a little worried after his team lost to Southmont and only recorded two hits in the game. Remsburg said it was a 'where did my team go' moment and reiterated the need to treat every game like it's a game against North Putnam, Cloverdale or South Putnam because that's when they tend to bring their best stuff.
"Everybody's hitting the ball now and I hope it continues to carry and leads into sectional. We're at home this year and hopefully they're hungry and ready to go," Remsburg said.
At Greencastle
Putnam County Baseball Tournament
Championship Game
Greencastle (11)01 15 -- 18 3 0
South Putnam 000 01 -- 1 2 2
WP -- Battin
LP -- Hammond
2B -- GHS: Miller, Vermillion
3B -- GHS: Remsburg (2)
Game 1
Greencastle 250 000 0 -- 7 14 1
North Putnam 000 100 0 -- 1 2 2
WP -- Remsburg
LP -- Watson
2B -- GHS: Parker, Bell, Remsburg
Game 2
Cloverdale 001 000 0 -- 1 9 6
S. Putnam 021 012 x -- 6 11 0
WP -- Zimmerman
LP -- Wilson
2B -- SP: Heller, CHS: Mannan, Burdette
HR -- SP: Parker