The Greenville Bears finish their season with a sectional loss against the #1 ranked team in the state, Valle Catholic. The Bears were held to two hits in the 8-0 shutout, one by Ben Becker and one by Trey McDaniel.
Valle Catholic scored 7 of their eight runs in the first two innings off pitcher Blakeney Kearbey. McDaniel came in to relieve in the 3rd and held the Warriors to only 1 additional tally, but the Bears offense never got on track striking out 10 times.
The Bears’ season ends with an impressive 22-2 spring record after a 17-5 fall for a combined record of 39-7.
Becker’s batting has been strong as the season came to a close. In the final five games of the year, Becker lead the team in three categories: batting average at .583; on-base percentage of .667; and, on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.333.
In the three post-season games, Becker recorded a .667 batting average, a .750 on-base percentage and 1.417 on-base plus slugging.
Ben was quoted in the local newspaper – Daily American Republic:
Greenville finishes with a 22-2 record, the most wins in program history. The Bears are now 0-3 all-time in the state playoffs.
“I’ve never been here before, so knowing that it’s over is pretty painful,” said Greenville junior Ben Becker, who had one of his teams two hits. “Still a pretty big accomplishment to get this far and I think we can get back here.”
It was a painful day at the plate for the Bears, as just five batters reached in the loss.
“That kid throws high 80s and I don’t even think he was throwing his hardest until that last inning,” Becker said. “That was the fastest I’ve seen this season and he’s just a full-on aggressive, smart pitcher.”