The methods weren’t quite the same over two games Friday afternoon, but the results were just about as familiar for the Gruver Greyhounds.
Carrying the weight of lofty expectations into the postseason, Gruver lived up to the hype in a Class 2A Division II region quarterfinal series against Smyer at Bushland. The Greyhounds were dominant for all but one half-inning in rolling to a series sweep, scoring a pair of 10-run mercy rule victories, winning the first game 14-0 in five innings and taking the second 12-2 in six innings.
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Gruver (17-1) will advance to the region semifinals next week against Stamford at Plainview. The first game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday with the second game slated for 30 minutes later. Game three, if necessary, will be Saturday at 3 p.m.
The win was fairly indicative of how the Greyhounds have treated most opponents this season. They were dominant in every phase of the game in the first game, then had to overcome a small deficit before closing the game with 12 unanswered runs and invoking the run rule.
“I still don’t know that we’re playing our best baseball, but we’re putting together runs and getting outs,” Gruver coach Khris Kelp said. “I like the progress that we’re making. You ask kids to do a job and whenever they execute it you see results.”
That sounds pretty basic, but the Greyhounds are still playing so they’re obviously doing something right. Friday afternoon was a microcosm of that.
In the first game, they scored at least one run in each of the five innings to put away Smyer (11-16). The second game was kind of the opposite, as Gruver fell behind 2-0 in the third inning and got a huge break which led to seven runs in the fourth, allowing the Greyhounds to cruise the rest of the way.
What both games had was solid mound performances by sophomore Jett Pittman in the first game and senior Briggs Satterfield in the second game. Over 11 innings, the two combined to give up only one earned run.
“Obviously we’ve got a great defense behind both of those guys so we don’t ask them to strike out a whole lot of kids,” Kelp said. “We just want them to give us some groundballs and let us play defense behind them. (Pittman and Satterfield) are pretty hypercritical of themselves, but we have goals we want them to hit and when they do that it’s really nice.”
Gruver was more dominant in the first game, as Smyer never really seemed to get in the game. The Greyhounds scored an unearned run in the top of the first when with two outs, an error on a groundball by Bo Cowan allowed the first run to score, and the Bobcats never seemed to have a chance after that.
While there was plenty of offense, Pittman didn’t need much of it. After walking the first two batters of the game, Pittman settled in, striking out eight and allowing only a pair of singles to Colton Burris.
So in control was Pittman that aside from a second inning single by Burris, he didn’t allow a ball to be hit out of the infield and didn’t allow a Smyer runner past second base.
“It’s just really easy to go up there and throw strikes with seven guys behind me who are going to do their jobs,” Pittman said. “I have a stud catcher back there (Cowan) who can do anything. It’s just real easy to do my job. Our game plan every day is to let them hit it. If we’re going to lose, it’s not going to be by our own mistakes.
The Greyhounds went up 5-0 with four runs in the second, as Pittman capped the inning with a two-run single. Gruver led 6-0 in the fourth when Pittman got the scoring started with a two-run single which knocked out Smyer starter Austin Martinez.
Later in the inning, Pake Babbs hit a two-run double off Smyer reliever Skyler Pond to make it 11-0 and give the Greyhounds the run-rule margin, making the win seem like a mere formality. Pittman and Babbs were both 3-for-4 and drove in three runs.
“The concentration is always the same out on the field,” Pittman said. “I did drive in some runs but it’s really just a team effort in the playoffs. It was an awesome day.”
Satterfield was 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. The next game it was his turn to pitch and he and the Greyhounds both had to work harder.
After both teams were scoreless through two innings, Smyer finally broke through to take the lead for the first time in the top of the third. With one out, Smyer’s Caleb Pearce hit an RBI single to finally get the Bobcats on the board.
Smyer had the bases loaded with two outs, but Satterfield appeared to get out of the inning when Tango Pestecek hit a dribbler toward the mound. However, Satterfield misplayed it, allowing a run to score and give Smyer a 2-0 lead.
That was all Satterfield gave up though, as he allowed only one hit over the final three innings, striking out seven and giving up five hits.
“I think at certain points I executed well,” Satterfield said. “I gave up a few base hits but that’s part of the game. My secondary pitches were on and I thought that was good.”
Gruver didn’t break through offensively until the bottom of the fourth off Smyer starter Burriss, who seemed single-handedly determined to keep his team in the series. Merritt Cudd drew a bases-loaded walk to tie it 2-2 right before the game turned.
With two outs, Satterfield came to the plate with the bases still loaded. He hit what appeared to be an inning-ending pop-up which Smyer shortstop Ryan Gutierrez camped under, but Gutierrez appeared to misplay it in the wind, as it hit him in the head, allowing two runs to score and give Gruver a 4-2 lead.
“This game I kind of struggled at the plate after I did pretty well in the first game,” Satterfield said. “You never know what can happen in baseball and we ended up putting a big inning together. Sometimes you just try to put it in white on white and challenge hitters when the wind’s blowing in.”
Pittman followed that up with a two-run double to left and later scored on a single by Cohen Jones to make it 7-2 and conclude the scoring for the inning. By then, Gruver had all the momentum.
The Greyhounds added two more runs in the fifth to make it 9-2. They ended it early in the sixth as with one out Pittman singled and stole second before scoring on a Jones single.
With two outs, Babbs drove home a run to make it 11-2, then Trayton Aranda got an infield single deep in the hole to score Mason Lankford and invoke the run rule.
It completed a bounceback after an early misstep which is vital at this point in the season.
“We know that this game is built around adversity,” Kelp said. “These guys made it to state semifinals in football and basketball and they know what it’s like to have their backs against the wall. They rely on each other and not get too low or too high.”