Glenwood baseball splits doubleheader of state title series

Before Game 2 of the AISA Class 3A state championship series Wednesday, Glenwood head coach Tim Fanning offered a few words of wisdom to his team.

After dropping the opening game 6-3 to Pike Liberal Arts, Glenwood needed a win to force a Game 3.

Fanning kept his message quick and concise.

“All I told them before the game started was, ‘How do you want to be remembered?’ ” Fanning said. “ ‘That’s totally up to you. It’s not up to us or anybody in the stands. It’s up to you guys.’ ”

The words struck the right chord. The Gators won Game 2, 2-1. It followed Glenwood’s pattern throughout the playoffs: Glenwood lost the series opener in the previous two rounds before winning consecutive games to advance.

Glenwood (39-9) grabbed the one-run victory, but it proved far from easy. Gators starting pitcher Daniel Holley found himself in a jam in the seventh inning with a one-run lead, as Pike (29-8) put runners on second and third with one out.

Holley had to buckle down to make sure this game wasn’t his last as a Gator.

“I knew that with runners on third and second with one out, you’ve got to either get a short pop fly or a strikeout right there, so that’s what my mindset was,” Holley said.

Holley struck out the next two batters for the complete-game win. He finished with five hits allowed, no earned runs and 11 strikeouts.

Fanning said the late-inning scare was nearly identical to Glenwood’s semifinals Game 2 against Monroe Academy, when Holley fanned the last batter with runners on second and third in a 2-1 contest. As the final at-bats played out, Fanning watched in agony as the Patriots threatened to ruin Holley’s outing.

“I’m sitting over there, and part of me is like, ‘this kid can’t go out this way,’ ” Fanning said. “He’s been so special for us, and he deserves better than to lose his last game. He’s an all-American for a reason, and he’s pitched like that all year long the last three years.”

The Gators were silenced in the first four innings of Game 2 until they found a much-needed answer in the fifth.

Josh Brown scored on a two-out wild pitch to tie the game 1-1, and Nick Adams shot an RBI single to right field to score Brandon Moseley and give the Gators their first lead of the game.

The Game 2 effort Game 2 capped a day that started on a sour note.

In Game 1, Glenwood took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth thanks to Adams. Adams sent a bouncing ball up the middle for a two-out RBI single, scoring Carson Allison.

Adams’ knock appeared enough. But that changed in the bottom of the sixth.

Pike batted around in an inning that eviscerated the Gators’ chances of winning. The Patriots put up five runs to take a 6-2 lead.

“They were ready, and they were better than us in the first game,” Fanning said. “We had plenty of opportunities; we just didn’t take advantage of them.”

After splitting Wednesday’s games, the two teams will play Game 3 at noon Thursday in Montgomery. Fanning again gave advice to his squad after a long afternoon of play.

“Go home, hydrate, get in the bed, lay on the couch, soak up the air, and don’t go anywhere,” Fanning said. “Mentally focus on what you can do to be better tomorrow than you were today.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Glenwood baseball splits doubleheader of state title series."