Future Razorback Connor Noland and the Greenwood Bulldogs captured their second state title of the school year when they defeated Benton, 4-0 at Baum Stadium on Saturday. The Bulldogs won the state title in football in December. Winning the state title on Saturday at a stadium he’ll call home in just over a week was special for the Greenwood star.
“It was very awesome,” said Noland. “Obviously that’s my first start here at Baum Stadium and to get the win is a big deal. Hopefully to bring that next year, same thing same championships.”
Noland threw a complete game with 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits. At the plate, the future Hog went 1-3 with a single, as well as an intentional walk. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead after the 1st inning and Greenwood head coach Trey Holloway knew that’s all they would need.
“That takes a lot of pressure off him, took a lot of pressure off our guys,” Holloway said after the game. “We were going to be aggressive, we knew that going into it. You saw I ran the guys, we did some things that we normally don’t do, but we were trying to score runs. So, I wanted to get him five or six runs, as many as we could. But I knew when we got two, I felt really comfortable with him out on the mound.”
