He rightfully tapped Sam Barnett.
Barnett yielded just three hits Wednesday night as the Tigers mowed down Independence 10-2 in Shady Spring.
Barnett went the distance, allowing just three hits and striking out nine.
“The curveball was working,” Barnett smiled. “My game plan coming in was to not give any one of them – Levi (Barnett), Cole (Cunningham), Degan (Williams) – they’re all really good hitters. So I wasn’t gonna give them anything they can take yard or anything. I was just gonna get them outside so maybe a little ground ball or like a pop fly or something. But overall, I thought my fastball was definitely there tonight. The best.”
Barnett’s effort was backed immediately by a Shady offense that pounded out 12 hits and piled up 10 RBI.
“They’re a good team,” Shady head coach Kendrick Epling said. “I was fortunate enough to help them out last year and I know who they have. You gotta get runs on them first, and you gotta get runners on and you gotta score. Because if you don’t score against them, they’ve got one of the best duos in the state and we were lucky enough to keep them under a hit or no hits. And that was that was the whole thing. I told our coaches too, you know, if we can keep Degan and Cole under two hits we got a shot. And we were able to do that. We were able to execute the hits.”
Jalon Bailey put the pressure on early reaching on a single to open the bottom of the first, later stealing second. An error allowed Aiden Calvert to reach base behind him and freshman Cutter Boggs delivered the first blow with a line-shot double that plated both. Barnett kept the train rolling with a single and Brody Seabolt and Noah Fox followed him with an RBI each to cap a 4-0 inning.
Barnett meanwhile mowed through Indy’s lineup, striking out five over the first two innings and inducing three quick outs in the third.
The fourth was where he ran into trouble.
All-stater Cole Cunningham lined a one-out double and Orion Wills reached behind him after he was hit by Barnett. Reid Warden plated both with a two-run double, putting the Patriots in striking position.
That was all quelled in the bottom of the fifth when the middle of the order came through again. Calvert, Boggs and Barnett all reached to open the with a squeeze play from Noah Fox and a two-run single from Kayden Quesenberry adding to the advantage.
“This game’s all about momentum,” Epling said. “They started picking up the momentum when Reid hit the double. We got lucky when we had some runners on and that’s when we called the squeeze. Because like I said, baseball is is all about momentum. So we had to get a runner in, even if it was one.
“We had to put some runs in so that’s when we called the squeeze and it was able to work out. We were lucky enough to get that to work out and then the momentum shifted back and then we were able to take control.”
Indy threatened in the sixth with a pair of runners but it never materialized into a run.
Shady put the game out of reach in the bottom of the frame with Calvert, Boggs and Seabolt adding an RBI hit each.
“Sam pitched really well too, but it doesn’t matter how we play defensively or what,” Indy head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “You can’t beat many teams with three hits. We have to be able to manufacture some offense as well. The high school game, I think it simply comes down to who don’t walk many people, who don’t make many errors, and if you can put the ball in play.”
Boggs and Seabolt led Shady at the plate with three hits each. Boggs, Seabolt, Fox and Quesenberry all finished with multiple RBI.
