By Ben Grossberg
Lead Scout, PBR Indiana 

Indianapolis – The night cap of the Victory Field Classic saw solid pitching performances from both sides. Greenfield-Central sent out Senior Curtiss Irving (Ohio State commit) to the mound and Greenwood countered with Junior Mitch Caster. Irving’s fastball was up to 89 mph on several occasions in the first inning and the next three innings sat 87-88 with a very good breaking ball.  

Greenfield jumped on the board in the first as Jayden Jackson (Kaskaskia) singled to lead off the game and after advancing to third on a single by Irving, he would score on a passed ball. In the third Jackson got the offense on the board again when he doubled to lead off the inning and after getting sacrificed to third, he would again score on a passed ball. 

Greenwood cut the deficit to on in the bottom of the third. With two outs and a runner on second Senior Landon Fink singled up the middle to bring in Greenwood’s first run. Greenwood tied the game in the fifth when Alex Krupa brought in a run on a fielder’s choice that was close to being a double play. 

Irving and Caster both pitched well, but they each ended with a no decision. Irving threw five innings allowing four hits and striking out eight. Caster went four innings allowing three hits and striking out four. 

Both lineups went down quietly in the sixth and the seventh innings and the game headed into extras. Both teams pitched well out of jams in the extra frames. Greenfield’s Brandon Neal was very good on the mound through his five innings of work, allowing just one hit and striking out 10. 

Greenfield had their chances in the eighth and ninth innings. In the top of the eighth Greenfield had their chance to get on the board with runners on first and second and two outs, but Greenwood pitcher Aaron Murray got a strike out to end the inning. Greenfield looked like they would score again in the ninth when the loaded the bases with just one out. This time Greenwood’s Sam Orem got the team out of the jam getting a pop out and a fly out to end the inning. 

Greenwood would have their chances in the ninth as well. With two outs and runners on first and second Brendon Neal got a strike to end Greenwood’s threat. In the bottom of the tenth Greenwood had the same situation, but again Neal got a strike out to end the inning. 

During Greenfield’s at-bat in the top of the tenth there were two instances where they looked like they were going to score. It appeared Chris Hersey was going to give Greenfield the lead when he ripped a ball to left field that left the ballpark, but it landed roughly five feet foul. Later in the inning Greenfield loaded the bases for Irving and he crushed a ball, but it went right at the left fielder to end the inning. 

In the top of the 11^th inning Greenfield finally broke through to put runs on the board. Kyle Gleeson started the scoring with a RBI single, then Hersey singled in another, and Jayden Jackson brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. However, it was now midnight and by IHSAA rules teams cannot play past midnight. Since Greenwood did not get to bat in the inning the score had to revert back to the 10^th inning and ended in a 2-2 tie.