Strozier strong behind plate

One constant for the Greenwood Bulldogs this year has been the steady play of senior catcher Dylan Strozier.

“He’s my man,” Greenwood coach Chad Mercado said. “I’m harder on him than anybody. He’ll tell you that, but he can handle it. That’s what our team needs. He’s played great the last three or four games. He’s been a huge difference for our team.”

In addition to his catching duties, he also bats in the middle of the order. In Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Alma, his bunt single right after Dawson Holt had opened the fourth inning with a bunt single led to the tying run. It was the biggest hit of the game.

“We weren’t getting a lot of hard contact and weren’t sticking with our approach, so we had to change something up,” Strozier said. “We had to get base runners on and gets runs across the plate.”

Strozier’s main responsibility, though, is handling a young pitching staff that includes sophomores Austin Mitchell, who has moved into the starter’s role for the opening game of conference doubleheaders, and Brady Pettigrew, who has developed into both a stopper and a starter.

In Tuesday’s doubleheader, Pettigrew needed just 24 pitches to close out the 2-1 win with two hitless innings of relief. He came back in the second game, started and went the distance in the six-inning, 10-0, win with just 55 pitches, including 42 strikes.

“Patty, that’s what we expect him to do is to come in and throw strikes; fastball, cutter, locate with his fastball and fill up the strike zone and make them beat us,” Mercado said. “He did, and they didn’t.”

Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep keeps Greenwood alive for a state tournament berth. The Bulldogs are in fifth place and a game behind Russellville and Mountain Home, which are tied for third place.

Greenwood, though, closes at Greenbrier, which is tied for Van Buren for the league lead with just one conference loss. Russellville is at Van Buren while Mountain Home is at Alma on Tuesday.