COAL CITY, W.Va. — Independence baseball coach Scott Cuthbert was faced with replacing seven starters from last year’s Class AA state-runner up team.
The Patriots (13-6), now with just three seniors on the roster, fell a season ago to Bridgeport in the Class AA state championship 5-2.
“We had a pretty neat run, our kids played really hard and did everything we asked,” Cuthbert said. “That group of kids had a really good career here.”
Included in that group of seniors were the Patriots top pitchers in Jeremy McGinnis and Kevin Sexton. Two of the top three leading hitters, Wyatt Adkins (SS, .486, 39 RBI) and James Huffman (2B, .413, 31 RBI), also graduated.
A core piece did return, though, in senior Andrue Hughart (.464, 32 RBI last year) who has led the Patriots at the plate this year and served as the No. 1 on the mound.
“Andrue was one of our main holdovers from last year and has played really well for us,” Cuthbert said. “Chris Mills, a junior who started last year, and junior Ryan Brandstetter have also been leaders for us. Those guys have kind of been the big three who have carried us through most of this season.”
Several freshman have also contributed for Independence this season, including starting second baseman Fisher Horton.
“We’re still in the process of trying to figure things out (with the new players in prominent roles),” Cuthbert said. “It was a big change and a lot different at the beginning of the year because we weren’t sure how some of the new guys would respond. We’ve played anywhere from 12-15 kids this year.
“With young kids, one day they will look really good one day and then the next day they may struggle,” Cuthbert added. “You just have to take what you can get, when you can. We’ve had different kids step up at different times.”
Freshman Logan Stump was on the mound earlier this year as Independence took down championship contender Chapmanville 5-2 in a wooden bat tournament.
“That was a nice win for us,” Cuthbert said. “We played well and were able to move runners over. We did a lot of little things right. We’ve not been what I would call a great hitting team this year, but we have been able to manufacture runs – if you can do that in high school, that usually gives you a chance.”
Independence is one of several teams in contention to emerge out of Region 3 in Class AA. PikeView, which entered Wednesday at 15-2 on the year, is considered the favorite.
The Panthers just missed out on a state tournament appearance last year, falling to Independence 2-1 in the regional final.
“To me, PikeView should be the overwhelming favorite this year – they have everything back and were six inches away from making it to Charleston last year,” Cuthbert said. “Our biggest step for right now is trying to set ourselves up in our section. We’ll worry about PikeView if we would get that far.”
Independence fell to PikeView 6-0 earlier this year and is scheduled to face the Panthers again later this week. Independence is joined in its section by Summers County and Liberty Raleigh.
“Our ultimate goal is always to try to get to Charleston,” Cuthbert said. “But the most important thing for us right now is to be fundamentally sound and we can go from there. The two biggest things we teach them is to make the routine plays and try to put the ball in play.
“When we do that, we can be competitive,” Cuthbert continued. “When we don’t we struggle just like everyone else.”
Follow MetroNews High School Sports on Twitter and on Facebook.
| INDEPENDENCE 2015 Baseball Schedule |
||||||||
| 1 | 03/23/15 | 05:00PM | H | BLUEFIELD | 9 | – | 12 | L |
| 2 | 03/24/15 | 05:00PM | H | FAYETTEVILLE | 10 | – | 6 | W |
| 3 | 03/26/15 | 07:00PM | A | PRINCETON SENIOR | 9 | – | 7 | W |
| 4 | Cancelled | 01:00PM | A | OAK HILL | – | |||
| 5 | 03/30/15 | 05:00PM | A | WESTSIDE | 33 | – | 2 | W |
| 6 | 03/31/15 | 05:00PM | A | OAK HILL | 3 | – | 4 | L |
| 7 | 04/01/15 | 07:00PM | A | PIKEVIEW | 0 | – | 6 | L |
| 8 | 04/02/15 | 05:00PM | A | SUMMERS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL | 7 | – | 3 | W |
| 9 | Cancelled | 05:30PM | H | WYOMING EAST | – | |||
| 10 | 04/07/15 | 07:30PM | A | Myrtle Beach, SC- Monsignor McClancy, NY | 6 | – | 16 | L |
| 11 | 04/08/15 | 12:00PM | A | Myrtle Beach, SC- Villa Angela St. Joe’s Cleveland, OH | 11 | – | 0 | W |
| 12 | 04/09/15 | 09:00AM | A | Myrtle Beach, SC- Young American Christian from Georgia | 13 | – | 1 | W |
| 13 | 04/10/15 | 5:00PM | A | HAMPSHIRE | 3 | – | 14 | L |
| 14 | Cancelled | 07:00PM | H | PRINCETON SENIOR | – | |||
| 15 | Cancelled | 06:30PM | H | SHADY SPRING | – | |||
| 16 | 04/18/15 | 07:00PM | A | Chapmanville |
5 | – | 2 | W |
| 17 | 04/18/15 | TBAPM | A | SCOTT | 3 | – | 1 | W |
| 18 | Cancelled | 05:30PM | A | GREENBRIER WEST | – | |||
| 19 | 04/21/15 | 05:30PM | A | MOUNT VIEW HIGH SCHOOL | 16 | – | 4 | W |
| 20 | 04/22/15 | 05:30PM | A | JAMES MONROE | 3 | – | 0 | W |
| 21 | 04/24/15 | 8:00PM | H | WESTSIDE | 12 | – | 1 | W |
| 22 | Cancelled | TBAPM | H | Consolation/Champ. Game | – | |||
| 23 | 04/27/15 | 05:30PM | A | WYOMING EAST | 13 | – | 9 | W |
| 24 | 04/28/15 | 07:30PM | A | LIBERTY (Raleigh) | 10 | – | 1 | W |
| 25 | 04/28/15 | 05:30PM | A | LIBERTY (Raleigh) | 2 | – | 11 | L |
| 26 | 04/29/15 | 05:30PM | H | JAMES MONROE | – | |||
| 27 | 04/30/15 | 07:00PM | H | PIKEVIEW | – | |||
| 28 | 05/04/15 | 06:00PM | H | MOUNT VIEW HIGH SCHOOL | – | |||
| 29 | 05/05/15 | 05:00PM | H | SUMMERS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL | – | |||
| 30 | 05/06/15 | 06:30PM | A | SHADY SPRING | – | |||
| 31 | 05/07/15 | 05:00PM | A | FAYETTEVILLE | – | |||
| 32 | 05/09/15 | 12:00PM | H | SCOTT | – | |||
| wins: 13 lost: 6 ties: 0 | ||||||||