ST. ALBANS, WV- The Greenbrier East Spartans had just three hits and no one on the team recorded an official RBI, but it was still enough to defeat the St. Alban’s Red Dragons 1-0 on the road on Monday, May 22 in the Region 3 championship series.
Gavin Bennett tossed a complete-game and was great on the mound for East as he outdueled Bryce Eggleton in the low scoring affair.
“I had confidence in myself and confidence in my team behind me. I also had confidence in coach Mann’s pitch calls,” Bennett said after the game.
East (19-16) scored the game’s only run in the top of the second and was awarded a gift, so to speak. With two outs, Gabe Patton struck out, but the pitch got away from the catcher and Patton hustled down to first base safely. The next batter, Peyton DeHaven, hit a grounder to third base, but an error on Garrett Comer allowed Clayton Morgan to score. The wild pitch eventually gave East the lead 1-0.
East had another opportunity for an insurance run in the top of the fifth, but Ian Cline got caught stealing home, and was tagged out even though he appeared to get under the tag.
Benett then allowed two singles in the sixth, and it looked as if the Red Dragons (23-15) were finally going to break through. However, Bennett settled down, struck out the next two batters and got Comer to pop out weakly to center field to end the inning.
Bennett’s secondary pitches got better as the game went on.
“I got settled in,” Bennett said.
“My breaking ball wasn’t working at first, but I got dialed in and it started to work,” he added.
Morgan contributed to the Bennett shutout in the seventh when he caught Micheal Hindman stealing second base with a perfect throw. Bennett calmly got the next two outs for a huge, important game one victory for East.
Both teams had just three hits each. Two Red Dragon errors were huge for the East offense.
With the victory, the Spartans are just one win away from their first state tournament berth since 2015.
However, keeping their heads straight and staying even keeled is the key in winning one more game.
“Very,” Bennett exclaimed when asked how important winning game two is.
“With our home crowd behind us, we want to seal the deal. We want the stands to be packed,” he finished.
With the way Spartan fans support their teams’, packed stands are a given. Game two will be Tuesday, May 23 at 6:00 PM at Spartan Yards in Fairlea.
