Bluefield – Independence and Bluefield had little to play for Wednesday night.
With sectional regional seeding completed on Tuesday, both teams could’ve elected to rest most of their starters. Neither did, electing for a tune up.
Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert has to feel pretty good about what he saw.
The Patriots scored four runs in the first inning and never trailed, beating the Beavers 12-6 at Bowen Field Wednesday evening.
Both teams were voted the No. 1 seeds in their respective sections Tuesday and came in as No. 1 (Indy) and 2 (Bluefield) in the MetroNews power rankings but the Patriots flexed their muscles, showing early why they’re the No. 1 seed in the region.
“We’ve just been trying to put the ball in play more consistently,” Cuthbert said. “If we get people on base we’ve run real well all year. That helps. Anytime we start early that helps us throughout. The few times we’ve struggled is when we’ve fought from behind, but usually we play better from ahead, so that start helped.”
The Patriots found ways to both put the ball in play and go up early. Their plate discipline didn’t hurt either.
Atticus Goodson got things rolling with a bunt single, stealing second and advancing to third on a pickoff attempt that sailed into centerfield. Michael McKinney and Carson Brown both followed with walks, loading the bases for cleanup hitter Clay Basham.
The sophomore capitalized, scorching a single that scored Goodson. Bluefield starter Kerry Collins found some relief when he struck out Hunter Schoolcraft, but Caleb Daniels followed with a single that scored two, making it 3-0. A groundout to third scored Basham, Indy’s fourth run of the inning, but Collins finally worked his way out of the frame when A.J. Zilinksi flew out to center.
Bluefield got on the board in the bottom of the frame when Brandon Wiley drew a leadoff walk, stole second and came home on an RBI-single from Bryson Redmond. Redmond was able to advance to third after an error on his hit and a passed ball, but was left stranded there.
The bad news didn’t stop there for the Beavers.
Indy loaded the bases again in the second inning with no outs, courtesy of a single from Goodson that was sandwiched between Elijah Farrington and McKinney walks. That chased Collins and brought in Ryker Brown.
“We talked about it, it seemed like their leadoff hitter was on every time,” Bluefield head coach Jimmy Redmond said. “That’s tough. I think maybe five or six of the seven innings the leadoff hitter reached for them. Our pitchers didn’t locate or hit their spots tonight. It happens sometimes. We got behind in the count majority of the game and then you’ve got to battle back but they hit the ball.”
A groundout from Carson Brown and a sac-fly from Basham plated two more for the Patriots, giving them a 6-1 lead.
Indy threatened to end the game early with a four-run fourth, going up 10-1, but Bluefield answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth to claw back in it.
Unfortunately for the hosts they never could cut the deficit below five runs.
They were able to load the bases in the final inning, forcing Cuthbert to make a pitching change from Tanner Sipes, who spelled Schoolcraft in the fourth, to Basham. One pitch was all Basham needed to end the game as he induced a flyout to improve Indy to 17-1 on the season.
“We’ve tried not to make a big deal out of this game because everything is already set,” Cuthbert said. “But anytime we play we’re trying to do all the little things correct. We’ve been playing better of late. We’ve won several games in a row so I think offensively we’ve been playing better. Defensively we’ve been playing pretty well. We gave up some runs tonight, but Bluefield hits the ball pretty well. But once we get to Tuesday everybody is 0-0 so we’ll go from there.”
Bluefield drops to 21-3 and will host Beckley on Friday to close put the regular season. Indy improves to 17-1 and will host Princeton on Thursday to close out the season.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
I: 420 402 0 – 12 11 2
B: 100 220 1 – 6 11 1
Pitching – I: Hunter Schoolcraft (4.2 innings), Tanner Sipes (2 innings), Clay Basham (0.1 innings) and Caleb Daniels; B: Kerry Collins (1 inning), Ryker Brown (6 innings) and Bryson Redmond. WP: Schoolcraft, LP: Collins. Hitting – I: Atticus Goodson 3-5, Michael McKinney 1-3 (RBI), Carson Brown 0-3 (RBI), Clay Basham 2-3 (2 RBI), Hunter Schoolcraft 1-4 (RBI), Caleb Daniels 2-4 (4 RBI), Andy Lester 0-3 (RBI), A.J. Zilinski 1-4 (RBI), Elijah Farrington 1-3; B: Brandon Wiley 1-3, Bryson Redmond 1-4 (RBI), Carson Deeb 1-3, Hunter Harmon 1-3, Kerry Collins 2-4 (2B, 2 RBI), Ryker Brown 1-3, Gavin Lail 3-3 (RBI), Caleb Fuller 1-4 (3B, RBI), Davis Rockness 1-3.