Photos by F. Brian Ferguson
Coal City – Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert believes baseball’s a funny game.
The unpredictable nature of the sport is largely why he believes that.
Thursday’s Region 3 championship only reinforces his belief.
Trailing 5-0 before they even came up to bat, his Patriots rallied and ultimately hung on to beat Bluefield 14-13 in Coal City, winning the Region 3 title and clinching a berth in next week’s state tournament in Charleston.
Much like Game 2 of the series – a 10-0 Indy loss – the Patriots were rocked from the start. Six Beavers reached base and four had scored before the first out was recorded, causing the Indy faithful to worry.
That’s not what Cuthbert was thinking about.
“I was just thinking about us getting that first out,” Cuthbert said. “I think, if I remember right, they scored most of their runs with no outs. But when we found the first one, we just wanted to cut it in half. We were fortunate enough to get four of them back.”
The Patriots got their first out, but not before Bluefield lit up Indy starter Clay Basham to the tune of four runs, chasing him from the game before he could record an out.
The cascade started when Bluefield outfielder Brandon Wiley, who walked three times in Game 2 on Wednesday, drew a leadoff walk. He stole his way to third with Bryson Redmond, who also drew a walk, following him along the base paths. The pair scored on a Carson Deeb double, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Basham’s control issues remained as he walked Hunter Harmon, bringing Kerry Collins to the plate.
Collins drove in Deeb with a single that was mishandled and allowed Harmon to also score.
Kerry Collins delivers a single that scores Deeb. It’s mishandled in RF and rolls to the fence, allowing Harmon to score. Bluefield up 4-0, runner on second with no outs.#wvprepbase pic.twitter.com/U428PREQKZ
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) June 17, 2021
Gavin Lail reached behind Collins by drawing the fourth walk of the inning. That was the last batter he saw before Cuthbert pulled the plug, bringing in Tanner Sipes.
Collins eventually scored the fifth run on an RBI-single from Ryker Brown – the last run of the frame for Bluefield.
The Patriots were visibly shaken, but not dejected.
They mounted a rally, starting with Basham who drove in Indy’s first run and later scored the third run of the frame for the Patriots on a double from Caleb Daniels.
Daniels crossed home on an error at short, accounting for Indy’s final run of the frame, cutting the deficit to a single run.
Both teams went scoreless in second inning – the only completely scoreless frame of the game.
But the fireworks were on again in the third.
Bluefield cushioned its lead with runs from Brown, Wiley and Caleb Fuller, going up 8-4 but Indy again had an answer.
Basham reached on an error to leadoff the bottom of the third and was one of two Patriots to score in the inning, helping his team stay in striking distance.
“We were lucky,” Cuthbert said. “When they came back and scored again we scored the next inning again. I thought if we could get into their bullpen that would be an advantage for us. They kept their energy level up. Momentum started swinging our way.”
Sipes tamed Bluefield’s lineup over the next three innings, allowing just one run.
The opposite rang true for Bluefield.
The Patriots tied the game in the fourth, chasing Collins, and took the lead in the fifth when Michael McKinney worked a leadoff walk, stole second, advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw and crossed home on a wild pitch.
Indy breaks the tie on a wild pitch. Michael McKinney comes across the plate to score. Indy up 9-8#wvprepbase pic.twitter.com/8odCmbQSYU
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) June 18, 2021
Basham scored his fourth run of the game in the frame, giving Indy a 10-8 lead. For the game he scored five overall, reaching base in all five plate appearances and making up for the four runs he yielded on the mound.
“Clay could’ve been down but he was able to help us defensively and offensively,” Cuthbert said. “This is his first year of high school baseball, but we just had to battle. These kids have a whole lot of grit and they played with it tonight.”
A squeeze play from Caleb Fuller brought Harmon home, cutting the deficit to one in the top of the sixth, but a four-run surge in the bottom of the frame gave Indy a five-run cushion.
It needed every bit of it.
Hunter Schoolcraft, relieving Sipes, walked Ryker Brown to start the inning and followed by yielding a single to Wiley. A 4-3 groundout moved the runners over and both scored when Deeb smoked single.
Harmon kept the rally going with a single and another from Lail scored Deeb.
Trailing 14-12, Caleb Fuller stepped to the plate with the bases loaded.
The sophomore responded with a poke to right that scored Harmon, but Collins with an opportunity to score and tie, was stopped at third. The confusion on the bases led to Lail being caught between second and third for the second out
“That was on me,” Bluefield coach Jimmy Redmond said. “That play there at the end where we had two outs – I could’ve tried to maybe push. The ball was in shallow right and we needed a couple of runs to go ahead. But hindsight’s 20/20. I could’ve maybe, probably should’ve, sent him but like I said the ball was in shallow right. But like I told the guys I should’ve pushed him.”
Trailing 14-13, a groundball to third was fielded cleanly, thrown to first and caught, securing the game for Indy.
The state tournament appearance will be Independence’s first since 2014 when it lost to Bridgeport in the Class AA title game.
“Anytime you make it to Charleston it’s a great experience,” Cuthbert said. “But these kids really deserve it. Especially missing their last year. They put a lot of time in and they’ve worked really hard in the offseason to get to this level and go. So it’s a great honor for those guys.”
The Patriots have earned the No. 1 seed in the state tournament and will play again on Friday, June 25 against North Marion at Power Park in Charleston.
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94