Bluefield – Bluefield coach Jimmy Redmond felt his team pressed too much against Independence in its prior three matchups against the Patriots – all won by Indy.
With the pressure at its highest and the season on the line, the Beavers responded with their best game of the year considering the stakes.
Senior Carson Deeb pitched a shutout as Bluefield hammered out 11 hits, beating Independence 10-0 in five innings at Bowen Field Wednesday evening in the Class AA Region 3 championship, forcing a decisive Game 3.
The Beavers came out of the gates firing, scoring three runs in the first inning and never looking back.
“The seniors met with the whole team without us coaches,” Redmond said. “As a coach you don’t know what’s going to be said, but something worked. Something lit a fire under their tail. We scored three in the first inning and when you get up and win a couple of innings you don’t really have to press as much as if you were playing from behind, but I’ll tell you what, Carson Deeb threw a gem.
“We made some plays behind him on defense and we hit the ball and that equals a good win. We haven’t done that with them in the first three games and we finally put it together and that’s a good feeling.”
Bluefield’s seniors were the catalyst for the quick start Wednesday.
Brandon Wiley got things rolling with a leadoff walk, advancing to second on a bunt-single from Bryson Redmond and scooting to third when Deeb reached on a fielder’s choice. With runners on the corners, junior Hunter Harmon lined a double over the head of the centerfielder, scoring both Deeb and Wiley. Kerry Collins followed with another double to score Harmon and advanced to third on a Gavin Lail single.
Bluefield strikes first. RBI double from Hunter Harmon makes it 2-0 Bluefield #wvprepbase pic.twitter.com/gzo0SKCjIm
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) June 16, 2021
Indy prevented a fourth run from crossing with a play at the plate and a strikeout afterwards, but Bluefield was already rolling.
The Beavers kept their foot on the gas in the second as Wiley drew his second walk, stole second and scored again when Deeb delivered a two-out single to make it 4-0.
Carson Deeb with a single that scores Wiley. It’s 4-0 Bluefield #wvprepbase pic.twitter.com/pUd6ACUqfr
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) June 16, 2021
Indy pitcher Michael McKinney settled down in the third, striking out the leadoff man and inducing a double play.
The calm lasted briefly with the floodgates opening in the fourth.
Wiley drew his third walk of the game with one out in the fourth and stole his way to third with two outs.
“He’s very fast,” Redmond said. “He’s going to Glenville State for football, but to be honest if he plays like that he could play at the next level with his speed and ability to put the ball in play and work counts. But like I said those seniors met with the rest of the team and I think they just had a fire lit under their tail. He was one of the kids that played with his ears pinned back from the start.”
Deeb answered the call again, lining a triple to right field that scored Wiley for the third time.
Harmon followed with a grounder to short that was thrown wide of first, allowing Deeb to cross the plate. A wild pitch moved Harmon up and he accounted for the fourth run of the inning when Collins collected his second RBI of the evening on a single.
Down 7-0, Indy head coach Scott Cuthbert decided to pull the plug on McKinney at that point, bringing in Hunter Schoolcraft. Bluefield loaded the bases against the senior hurler, but he worked out of the jam.
The relief was only temporary as the Beavers kept the heat on, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth to invoke the mercy rule. With the bases loaded and Bluefield leading 9-0, Indy pitcher Dillon Darnell plunked Lail, bringing home the winning run.
Indy struggled at the plate as well, managing just two hits off Deeb.
The Patriots will now take the night to regroup with their season on the line Thursday.
Fortunately for the Raleigh County bunch, they’ve been here before.
After handily beating Shady Spring in the sectional tournament, they lost 11-1 to the Tigers with a chance to clinch, forcing a decisive game in that tournament. They bounced back to beat Shady the next day 5-1.
“Baseball’s a funny game,” Cuthbert said. “One game on any given day, I think anybody could beat anybody, but you know luckily we have another opportunity. So if we come to play we’ll see what happens, but I thought Bluefield just did everything really well. Their pitcher pitched really well, they hit the ball really good and they made the plays in the field.
“Anytime you’ve got to play somebody this good this many times in a row, it’s hard to beat them that many times. We get to go back to our place so hopefully we’ll play better tomorrow and we’ll have a chance to win.”
Redmond’s aware of what Indy did against Shady and the parallels taking place in this series.
Still he doesn’t think his team will buy too much into Wednesday’s victory.
“I don’t think they’ll get too high,” Redmond said. “They understand we’ve got one more big game and we could make a trip to Charleston. It’ll be my job to keep them focused and not let them get too high.”
The teams will meet Thursday at 6 p.m. in Coal City with a spot in the state tournament on the line.
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjackRH