Gallery by Greg Barnett
Gardner – Independence baseball head coach Scott Cuthbert wasn’t quite sure where the road would take his team at the start of the 2024 season.
He really didn’t expect the final destination to be the state baseball tournament at Go-Mart Park.
Tuesday night, the Patriots gave their veteran coach a pleasant surprise.
Executing the postseason playbook to perfection, Independence knocked off PikeView 6-0 to win the Class AA Region 3 championship.
The Patriots will play their state tournament semifinal game Friday, May 31.
Game 1 is set for 10 a.m. between the No. 1 seed and the No. 4 seed. Game two will be 45 minutes later between the No. 2 and No. 3 seed. Seeds will be released once all regionals are finalized.
“It worked out really well for us. We got runs early (tonight) which I thought was key. We didn’t go 0-0 deep in the game,” Cuthbert said. “We put pressure on them and we did a good job of putting the ball in play. We had a couple of (sacrifice) flies and stuff, which was good. Then we were able to manufacture some runs.”
Cuthbert never doubted his players, but the task of making the state tournament was a big one to say the least.
“I only had four kids that had played for us (prior to this year),” Cuthbert said. “We knew the transfers, Blake (Stratton) and Reid (Warden), it would take them a while to learn how we do things. Everybody does things a little different and we had a lot of freshman come in. We knew it would take them a little while to learn how to play too. They did a good job.”
After falling behind by three runs Monday night in Game 1 of the three-game series, Independence took a 1-0 lead on an RBI-single from freshman Degan Williams in game two.
The tone for the game, however, was set in the bottom of the inning by Stratton in what was the beginning of a stellar day for the Patriot defense.
With Indy starting pitcher Reid Warden struggling with his control, his former teammate at Woodrow Wilson helped calm the water for the junior hurler.
After a lead-off walk, Stratton cut down the runner trying to steal before he picked off a runner at first for the third out of the opening frame.
“The first inning is totally on me. Just a terrible job of coaching,” PikeView head coach Josh Wyatt said. “It was a mix-up in signals and I take total responsibility on that. Then we have the slip on the 3-2 count (for the third out). Those things just snake-bit us.
A sacrifice fly from Levi Barnett doubled the Independence lead in the second. The Patriots then added two more in the third and proceeded to pull away.
Cole Cunningham made it a 3-0 game when he ripped a first pitch fast ball over the right field fence. Williams and Orion Wills followed the big left-hander with back-to-back doubles to add another run for a 4-0 lead.
While Indy bats were doing damage at the plate, the defense behind Warden was top shelf.
Brayden Kiblinger made two nice putouts on balls that appeared to be going for singles up the middle, including a 360-spin to record the out at first.
A lead-off walk to open the bottom of the sixth was vanquished on a ground ball to Micah Cuthbert at second. Cuthbert flipped the ball to Kiblinger who relayed the throw to first for the double play.
“Kibby made two really solid defensive plays. We have been playing really solid defense. Now what happens from here on out, I don’t know,” Cuthbert said. “I thought through the sectional and regionals, our defense has been really strong. We thought that would be our strong point this year. It is really good to see how the kids have improved throughout the year.”
Barnett had his hands in the final two runs for the Patriots.
After working a one-out walk, the junior lead-off hitter executed a perfect delayed steal. When the throw made its way to center field, Barnett raced for third where he scored on a sacrifice fly from Kiblinger.
An inning later, after coming close on two previous occasions in the series, Barnett launched a change-up into the trees behind the left field fence for the final run of the night.
“I was struggling in sectionals and I finally got the bat rolling in regionals,” Barnett said. “We have been putting the ball in play more consistently.”
After getting one out in the seventh inning, Warden was forced to give way to Kiblinger who closed the game out, fittingly, on a liner to Barnett who doubled off the runner at first base.
Over his six-plus innings of work, Warden allowed just two hits, while striking out 10 Panthers. In his previous postseason outing, the hard throwing righty one-hit Nicholas County in sectional play.
“That was definitely the most nervous I have ever been playing baseball in my life,” Warden said. “Once Blake got those outs, I finally got rolling. Kibby could not have made a better play in that situation too. Our defense is stout.”
The last time Independence was in the Class AA state baseball tournament was 2021.
