Last in line: Meet the youngest son to play under the longtime Plains baseball coach

LINCOLN — Cannon Greer is the last of his kind.  

Pleasant Plains baseball coach Dave Greer’s third and youngest son is leading the Cardinals in his senior year at center field.  

Cannon is something of a mixture of his two older brothers, Cole and Corgan, who both turned out to be key contributors at Lincoln Land Community College. 

Cole subsequently transferred to Illinois Wesleyan University and just wrapped up his senior year as an infielder. Corgan is sticking out his sophomore year with the Loggers, ranked No. 14 in NJCAA Division II in the final week of the regular season. 

“Corgan could just hit the ball 400 feet,” Cannon said. “Cole could just put it in play every time. I'm kind of in the middle of them. We're all different players, but I think it's kind of fun to compare stats and compete off each other.” 

Mentoring a young team 

Cannon is just one of two seniors on the Plains roster, the other being Jack Severino.  

The rest of the lineup includes a slew of freshmen and sophomores in Dave’s 32nd season at the helm, not counting the canceled 2020 spring schedule. 

Plains featured four freshmen and two sophomores in Wednesday’s 9-7 comeback victory over Lincoln at Mike Curry Field. 

“They really care,” Dave said of the seniors. “We really work them and make them be a part of this, and they're really stepping up.” 

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Plains overcame a 7-3 deficit with five runs in the sixth inning against the Railsplitters. Cannon scored the tying run on a passed ball with two outs before freshman Zach Ponce reached home on a dropped third strike and an errant throw by the catcher. 

“We're in every game and sometimes we just have a bad inning and we've got to fight through it,” Dave said of the growing pains. “I really like the attitude. They really play hard.” 

The Cardinals came into the weekend 15-16 overall and will host its Class 2A Quincy Notre Dame Regional quarterfinal as the No. 6 seed against No. 11 Rushville-Industry on Monday. The winner advances to play No. 3 Beardstown on Wednesday in Quincy. 

“It's definitely a lot of fun,” Cannon said. “It's definitely a leadership role, but I love every single one of them. They're going to be very good their senior year and they're a lot of fun to be around. They're all fun to talk to. Everything about them is good — positive players, so it's very fun.” 

A different route

Cannon currently has a .321 batting average with 26 runs, 16 stolen bases and 11 RBIs. He has also chipped in 11 innings as a pitcher with 10 strikeouts and a 3.82 ERA. 

Last season he batted .367 with 34 runs, 20 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. 

“It's exciting to kind of build off my brothers and try to compete off what they did, kind of look at their stats and try to kind of one up them — brotherly love,” Cannon said. “But I don't know, it's a little bit of pressure because both my brothers were very good high school athletes, so I'm kind of just trying to build off what they did.” 

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Cannon also wields significant range and leadership in the outfield.  

“He's a taller Cole, let's put it that way,” Dave said. “He's quick and he reads the ball really well.” 

And just like his brothers, Cannon intends to enroll at LLCC. Except baseball isn’t part of the picture. His next step is with the agricultural program after working on a cattle farm and breeding his own livestock. 

“I said, when his time is done, enjoy what you do,” Dave said. “I never want to make my kids go to school if they don't want to play baseball. Enjoy it. Enjoy high school and be done.” 

Contact Bill Welt: (217) 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt