Glenwood pulls away late to win Game 3 of series

The bottom of the lineup cards for the Glenwood baseball team lists the years of their 19 state championships, accompanied by the motto “a dynasty never graduates.”

On Friday, the Gators took the first step toward their 20th championship with a 7-2 series clinching victory over Morgan Academy in the AISA Class AAA quarterfinals.

Senior pitcher Tyler Cadenhead was named Friday’s starter by coach Tim Fanning immediately after the two teams split on Thursday night. Cadenhead had a masterful game for the Gators, striking out 13 and allowing seven hits in his seven innings. He also helped himself, hitting a solo home run in the third inning and tallying another RBI on a sacrifice fly in a five-run sixth.

“T.C.’s been in our program a long time,” Fanning said. “He’s always been a warrior. He deserves that opportunity and has earned that opportunity. I told him last night there’s no one I’d rather have on the mound with everything on the line. He’s one of the best kids in the program in a long time. His offense and his pitching combined is pretty spectacular.”

“With the team I got and the guys backing me up, there’s really no pressure,” Cadenhead said. “You just got to focus on what you have to do to help this team out. To be honest with you, it was a blessing.”

Cadenhead used a combination of his fastball, which hit 87 mph in the first inning and was still in the low to mid 80s in the seventh, and an off-speed pitch that puzzled Senators batters.

“Coach Fanning works with us a lot on mechanics,” Cadenhead said. “The only thing that keeps you going is staying on your leg and keeping the mechanics every single inning.

“You have to change every single pitch up. With the fastball, you got to put it in the corners. I was blessed by God with a decent breaking ball, but you’ve got to be able to place that, too. If you place them where you need to, you’re going to be fine.”

Morgan opened the scoring in the top of the second with a pair of singles and a costly Gator error that brought home Braxton Brown.

Glenwood answered in the bottom half of the second with patience at the plate and a little small ball. Carson Hicks walked to lead the inning, then Tyler Smith was hit by a pitch. A Jonah Herring sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, then Brandon Moseley reached on an error to score Hicks and knot the score at 1 apiece.

Cadenhead’s third-inning homer gave the Gators a 2-1 lead. The Senators tied the game in the top of the sixth as Sawyer Hopkins, who pitched the first four innings, hit a single and then scored later in the inning on a Bishop Price base hit.

Glenwood broke the game open in the bottom half of the sixth with more in the way of “small ball.”

Herring opened the inning with a walk, then Brandon Moseley bunted him over. Daniel Holley and Josh Brown hit back-to-back singles to bring in the first run, while sophomore Nick Adams had the biggest hit with a two-RBI single. After a wild pitched scored a run, Cadenhead continued to help himself at the plate, hitting a sacrifice fly to bring in another run.

“We actually went with a lineup today with (small ball) in mind,” Fanning said. “That’s something we wanted to do and made a conscious effort. We got guys in scoring position early and wanted to capitalize on that. We got some really good bunts down and then had timely hitting after that. That’s usually how you put up crooked numbers.”

The Gators advance to the semifinals next week, facing Monroe Academy in a best-of-three series at Glenwood.

“Last year, we lost to (Monroe) in the semifinals,” said Cadenhead. “That’s the spark in the fire. They have good ball players and they’re a good team, but I think I’ve got a better team behind me. There ain’t no one like these guys out there.”

“We battled them every year for the last few years,” said Fanning said. “There’s been some epic three-game series. We don’t expect anything different. They’re always very athletic and well-coached…they have a really good program and their kids will be ready to play.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Glenwood pulls away late to win Game 3 of series."