Charleston – Independence was hoping for a two-day stay in Charleston.
It lasted a little over two hours.
The Patriots committed two of their three errors in a disastrous third inning, falling 7-2 to North Marion in the Class AA semifinals at Power Park in Charleston on Friday.
“I think some of it’s environment,” Indy head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “You know, new field, different situation, but you got to remember these are high school kids – 14- to 17-year old kids. They’re going to make mistakes from time to time. But we’ve just got to play through it. But it happens.”
Mistakes came early and often on both sides of the ball for the top-seeded Patriots.
It started on the mound when Indy starter Atticus Goodson issued a walk to leadoff man Dylan Runner and hit No. 3 hitter Jace Rinehart. A groundout to short allowed Indy to eliminate the lead runner but Brock Troy delivered with an RBI single to plate Rinehart.
The bottom of the frame served indicative of the kind of day it would be on offense for Indy. After Goodson led off with a single, Rinehart, pitching for the Huskies, fanned the next three batters.
He kept Indy at bay most of the day, letting the offense work for him and helping his own cause.
In the third he drew a one-out walk and advanced to third when Nikholas Tobin hit a fly ball to right that was dropped. With runners on the corners, Troy picked up his second RBI, grounding to short but an overthrow to first allowed Tobin to follow Rinehart home.
Bryce Rhoades kept the onslaught rolling with a double that plated Troy.
When the smoke cleared North Marion held a 4-0 advantage over Indy.
Still, the Patriots had their opportunities.
In the bottom of the frame they loaded the bases with one out, but Rinehart buckled down, striking out the four and five hitters to exit the inning unscathed.
“One thing I thought (Rinehart) did that a lot of kids haven’t done much to us is throw inside,” Cuthbert said. “The umpire today called the inside strike and he really got in under our hands a few times. But you know he just battled and we didn’t hit him.”
Indy cracked its goose egg in the fourth when Caleb Daniels and Andy Lester came through with a single and a double, respectively. Lester’s double scored Daniels and Lester crossed home on a single from Goodson.
That was the only success Indy found against Rinehart.
The senior righty dazzled, striking out nine in 6.2 innings and allowing just two earned runs.
“I thought Jace pitched an outstanding game,” North Marion head coach Vic Seccuro said. “I mean he went the limit in pitches – I think 113 or 114. He just pitched outstanding. He sorta took a little bit off his fastball at times just to confuse them and keep them off balance. I thought he did an outstanding job there. Our catcher Alex O’Neil did an outstanding job catching. He’s our backup catcher.
“We got a couple of timely hits and we forced them to make a couple mistakes which we took advantage of. We had to do that. They’re an absolute good baseball team. They’ve got some outstanding athletes on that team and we beat a great baseball team this afternoon.”
The Huskies put the final touches on the game in the top of the fifth, hitting back-to-back singles to lead off. That forced Cuthbert to pull Goodson in favor of Tanner Sipes. He fared little better, allowing three runs to score.
On the day only three of the seven runs the Huskies scored were earned.
“I’ve watched other team’s that are real good come down here and struggle defensively,” Cuthbert said. “I don’t know what it is, we picked a bad day to have that. That’s baseball sometimes., you know? You’ve got good days and bad days and we’ve had that in the last five games it seems like.”
Indy ends its season at 23-5, but will return seven of its nine starters.
“It’s a tough environment to play in,” Cuthbert said. “It’s unknown and it’s so structured. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just the nature of the beast. It’s just so different from what you do in the regular season. But you know if they’ll come back with the right attitude – we really still have a hard region though. Not to taking anything for granted.”
North Marion advances to the Class AA championship game where it will play the winner of Herbert Hoover and Logan on Saturday.
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94
NM: 103 030 0 – 7 5 1
I: 000 200 0 – 2 6 3
Pitching and catching – NM: Jace Rinehart, Brock Troy (7) and Alex O’Neil; I: Atticus Goodson, Tanner Siopes and Caleb Daniels. WP: Rinehart, LP: Goodson. Hitting – NM: Jace Rinehart 1-2, Nikholas Tobin 2-4, Brock Troy 1-4 (2 RBI), Bryce Rhoades 1-3 (RBI); I: Atticus Goodson 2-3 (RBI), Carson Brown 1-3, Clay Basham 1-4, Caleb Daniels 1-3, Andy Lester 1-2 (RBI).
