Head Coach Brandon Brewer led his Greenwood Diamond ‘Dogs into combat last week against Shiloh Christian, Bentonville-West, and Booneville to open their 2025 season, winning two of three. The 5A West conference opener is just a week away against Alma, hosting the Airedales on March 17th then playing at Alma on the 18th. The Bulldogs will spend next week on the road at Mena (Monday), Benton (Tuesday), and at Greenbrier on Thursday. A former member of the 5A West, Greenbrier has been replaced this season by the Farmington Cardinals, the last league foe on the GHS schedule the first week of May.

Shiloh Christian

The Saints came to Greenwood last Monday to open the Bulldogs’ 2025 diamond campaign, but a huge home rally in the bottom of the fifth inning brought the show to a sudden halt, invoking the 10-run mercy rule and walking off with a 13-3 GHS victory. The Bulldogs scored in all five frames, plating one run in the first, two in the second, and one each in the third and fourth innings before the eight-run outburst in the fifth.

Mason Moore and Cooper Webb performed well on the mound to keep the Shiloh Christian bats in check. Moore started the game and went three innings, giving up all three Saints’ runs on five hits and four walks, but one of those runs was unearned due to a Greenwood error. Moore also fanned five enemy hitters before he was relieved by Webb, who was untouched in the final two frames, yielding no hits or runs while striking out four of the six hitters he faced.

At the dish, the Bulldogs banged out a dozen hits and took advantage of four walks and a Shiloh Christian error to push across 13 runs in 4.2 innings of baseball. Five GHS players had two hits each while a trio of those knocked in three runs each. Three others also had runs batted in and four starters scored at least two runs each. Only one Bulldog struck out in the game.

Zack Zitzmann, Jayden Campbell, Jaxon Cole, Aaron Taylor, and Cooper Webb all had two hits each, with Campbell, Cole, and Webb all drove home three runs each. Others with solo hits were Ty Holt and Brady Morgan. Catcher Ty Holt had a double and sacrifice fly with two RBIs. Zitzmann, Taylor, Morgan, and Webb all scored two runs each while Wyatt Frye crossed the plate three times. The following is a recap of Greenwood’s final at bat that led to the walk-off win.

Wyatt Frye led off and was hit by a pitch, sending him to first base. After a strikeout, Aaron Taylor and Brady Morgan singled to load the bases. Cooper Webb continued the hit parade with another single, pushing across two runs, making it 7-3. Ty Holt then walked to keep the rally going, reloading the bases with one out. Up next, Scott Hunter was plunked by a pitch, forcing home a run and advancing the other baserunners ahead of an RBI groundout by Zack Zitzmann, making the score 9-3.

Double ZZ then pilfered second base before Jayden Campbell whacked a double to score two more runs. Batting for the second time in the frame, Wyatt Frye walked, and Campbell advanced to third on a passed ball. Jaxon Cole then got his second hit of the inning with two outs and a 1-1 count, driving the ball to right field for a two-run double, plating the 12th and 13th run to trigger the 10-run mercy rule to end the game prematurely.

Bentonville-West

Last Thursday’s trip to Bentonville was quite a different story for the Bulldogs, a 5-1 loss to the Class 6A Wolverines. The visitors scored the game’s first run in the top of the second on a bases loaded walk, but left the sacks full of Bulldogs, missing a two-out chance to add more runs. Unfortunately, that was all Greenwood would score, thanks to a strong mound effort by the Wolverines, limiting the Bulldogs to just two hits while pitching around five free passes. Jayden Campbell and Jaxon Cole both had singles for Greenwood.

On the hill for the Bulldogs was starter Aaron Taylor, who labored into the fifth inning, giving up five runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts. However, only two of those runs were earned due to GHS errors, of which there were four in the game. Jake Gigerich replaced Taylor with two outs in the fifth and yielded just one hit with a strikeout the rest of the way. The Wolverines scored twice in the second inning, once in the third, and two more in the fifth for the 5-1 victory.

Booneville

 Separated by just 20 miles along Highway 10, Greenwood and Booneville are natural geographic rivals and have played many times in several sports over the years. But the growth of the school district since the 1990s has pushed Greenwood athletics up the classification ladder to 6A while Booneville has remained static at 3A or 4A. The two schools once played against each other in football and the Bearcats won more than their fair share of those games pre-1995. But no more since Greenwood’s emergence as one of the top football programs in the state across all classifications.

But baseball is a different sport than football. A good starting pitcher can often even the odds between a larger school and a smaller one. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, that didn’t happen last Friday on the GHS campus, the site of a 14-3 beatdown by Greenwood over Booneville in 4½ innings. Already leading 7-3 after three frames, the home team exploded for seven more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to invoke the 10-run mercy rule, ending the game in the middle of the fifth. Both GHS wins in week one were run-rule victories.

Greenwood scored twice in their first at bat, then five times in the bottom of the second, building a 7-2 lead. The Bearcats added a single run in the top of the third before Greenwood’s offensive outburst in the fourth. The visitors were held scoreless in the top of the fourth and fifth frames.

GHS senior hurlers Parker Branton (4 innings) and Mason Moore (1 inning) toiled on the hill and limited the opposition to three runs on five hits, notching eight total Ks. Branton got the start and the win, posting a stat line of four hits, three earned runs, and three walks while fanning six enemy hitters. Likewise, the Bearcats used two pitchers but allowed as many hits (14) as runs, though only six of those runs were earned. The Booneville defense made two errors that figured heavily in the Greenwood scoring. The Bulldogs made one error.

Offensively, the Bulldogs got six hits from their top two batters in the lineup, Jayden Campbell and Ty Holt, and one hit each from the bottom two in the lineup, Brady Morgan and Wyatt Frye. Those four players in succession went 8-for-12 at the plate, scored 10 runs, and collected six RBIs. They also had three extra-base hits, a triple and two doubles. As a team, the Bulldogs struck out only once against Booneville pitching.

Campbell was 3-of-4 with a double and three runs batted in. Ty Holt went 3-for-3 with a triple and RBI and both players scored three times in the contest. Jaxon Cole chipped in with a pair of hits, including a three-bagger and plated three runs. Several other Bulldogs had hits, including Brayden Renick, Zack Zitzmann (double, 2 RBIs), Scott Holland (RBI), Aaron Taylor (double), Brady Morgan (double), and Wyatt Frye (2 RBIs).