Liberty knew taking down top-ranked Independence would be a tough challenge Thursday night at Joseph H. Goddard Field in Coal City.
The last thing the Raiders wanted against it Raleigh County rival was self-inflicted damage.
Ten walks, two errors and a couple of near misses in the field led to two big innings for the Patriots on their way to a 13-2 win in five innings.
“I thought our pitchers threw pretty good tonight. I didn’t think we had the best approaches at the plate tonight and didn’t hit the ball very well. We were still able to find a way, I guess,” Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “You can pick any game apart, but anytime you can find a way to win a baseball game you are in pretty good shape.”
Liberty struck first when it scratched a run across in the opening frame without the aid of a hit.
Talen McGraw was hit on the game’s first pitch and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Landon Hall. Andrew Pettry moved McGraw over with a ground ball where he scored on a wild pitch.
The home team responded immediately in the form of Walters State Community College signee, Atticus Goodson.
First pitch swinging, Goodson evened the game with a drive deep into the woods behind left field.
Goodson’s blast seemed to unsettle the visitors who pitched themselves into some trouble and the Patriots took advantage.
A pair of walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases for Andy Lester who gave the Patriots a 2-1 lead with a sacrifice fly. J.D. Monroe then made it 4-1 lead with a double to the right-center gap.
Indy added one more on an errant throw to first when a third strike eluded the catcher to take a 5-1 lead after the first inning.
The lead went to five runs in the third inning after Dylan Darnell was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a walk to Goodson.
A pair of wild pitches allowed Darnell to score for the 6-1 lead.
The Raiders showed some fight in the fourth inning when Tristan Yeargo hit a one-out single and Clayton Williams followed with a double. Yeargo scored on Jacob Toler’s ground ball to trim the lead to 6-2.
A single from Tanner Beller kept the inning alive, but Liberty’s ninth strikeout in the first four innings ended the threat.
“The self-inflicted damage has been our issue all year, but I was really proud of our effort against one of the top teams in the state,” Liberty head coach Jonathan Hall said. “We have a couple of guys out with the flu, but I felt like for a young, inexperienced team, we came out and played hard.”
Independence put the game away in the bottom of the fourth inning. Aided by four walks and another hit batter, Indy mixed in three hits to score seven runs for a 13-2 lead.
“In a couple of innings we did at least take a walk or two. Our pitch selection sometimes is not very good. I think we want to hit the ball too much,” Cuthbert said.
Goodson, Lester, Monroe and Elijah Farrington each had two RBI on the night for the Patriots.
The biggest bright spot for the Patriots Thursday night was the work on the mound by Carson Brown, Monroe and sophomore hurler Brayden Kiblinger.
“We got three kids in there that hadn’t pitched a lot and that was what we wanted to do. Carson struggled a little bit early, but pitched good. J.D. threw the ball pretty good and Kiblinger has really come on as a pitcher for us. He came in for us in a tough situation against Nicholas County a week before last and was able to get us out of trouble.”
The trio combined for 12 strikeouts including Kiblinger striking out the side to seal the win in his only inning of work.
Independence will travel to Sissonville Saturday, while Liberty hosts Midland Trail Friday.
