Barrow's blast leads Greenfield to win

Kyle Barrow will be starring for the Greenfield-Northwestern football team in just a few weeks, but he was the star of Greenfield’s American Legion baseball team Tuesday evening.

Barrow went 2-for-5 with a 3-run homer, helping Greenfield Post No. 225 to an 11-6 district tournament win over Pleasant Hill Post No. 1048.

“I chased a high one the pitch before, then he put one right in the zone,” Barrow said. “It worked out for me.”

Barrow’s shot over the left-center field fence put Greenfield ahead 5-0, but Greenfield needed all the early runs it could get.

“Kyle Barrow really came through for us tonight,” said Greenfield coach Randy Henson. “Without that shot, I don’t think we could have done it.”

Greenfield starter Brent Henson (3-3) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but an error and four straight singles pulled Pleasant Hill within three runs at 5-2.

Greenfield came back with four runs in the seventh inning, two scoring on a Jake Mann double, but Pleasant Hill answered with four runs in the bottom half with four hits and another error.

“We made a late run. We’ve been doing that all season long,” said Pleasant Hill coach Ronnie Henry. “We never score before the fifth or sixth inning, and when you spot them six or eight runs, sometimes it’s hard to catch up and that’s what happened here tonight.”

Casey Jacoby relieved Henson in the seventh inning for Greenfield and retired just one batter, but Alex Rahe came on to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his third save of the summer.

“When they started making the run, I started getting a little jittery and we needed to change some things up,” Randy Henson said. “I thought Brent pitched a good game, but it was time to get him out. And Casey, he just didn’t have it tonight, and Alex Rahe came in and did a fine job of shutting them down.”

Greenfield tacked on single tallies in both the eighth and ninth innings to salt away the win. “We kind of got off to a slow start, but after that we got things rolling and it started working out for us,” Barrow said.

Mann led Greenfield with three hits, while Henson, Barrow, Rahe and John Ryan Hammond added two apiece.

Patrick Clark (0-1) took the loss for Pleasant Hill after allowing five runs over six innings. Clark was relieved by Dylan McKinnon, who allowed six runs over the final three innings.

Evan Borrowman, Nick Bartlett and McKinnon had two hits each for Post No. 1048. “Pleasant Hill’s got a good team,” Henson said.

With the win, Greenfield earns the right to face either Jerseyville or Griggsville in the second game of a doubleheader in Jacksonville Wednesday night. Jacksonville will play Calhoun in the early game.

“I’m pretty excited. I’m pretty happy for these guys,” Henson said. “We’ll look forward to tomorrow.”