MINT HILL, NC – On Thursday afternoon the Independence Patriots baseball team made the short trip across town to Rocky River High School for a doubleheader Southwestern 4A Conference baseball game.
Game 1: Independence 11, Rocky River 1In the first game of the doubleheader, Cole Coates led off for the Patriots with a single to center field and promptly stole second. Thomas Miller followed with a successful bunt putting runners on first and third with no outs. Indy’s shortstop Jake Stanley came to the plate and blasted a single to center field scoring Coates giving the Patriots a 1-0 lead. Joseph Reddish led off in the top of the second inning and drew a walk. With Reddish at first base, Rocky River attempted to pick off Reddish. However, the throw got past the first baseman, and with Reddish’s speed he wound up at the third base with no outs. Frank Jones Jr. reached on a hard infield grounder that Rocky River made no play on holding Reddish at third and putting Jones at first.
Daniel Ramos came to the plate and laid down a bunt scoring Reddish and moving Jones to third. With runners at the corners, the Rocky River pitcher was called for a balk scoring Jones and moving Ramos to second base. Thomas Miller hit a double to center field driving in Ramos, followed by a Jake Stanley single scoring Miller to give the Patriots a 5-0 lead.  Indy posted six runs in the top of the third inning. After Indy’s lead-off batter flew out, the next Indy batters reached on Rocky Rivers errors. Starting with Joseph Reddish on a dropped fly ball to right field. Frank Jones Jr. got on board on an error by the shortstop, and Daniel Ramos reached on a second baseman’s throw to first. All three of these Indy players scored making the score 8-0.  Garrett Lawrence came to the plate and was hit by a pitch. Cole Coates followed. Lawrence stole second while Coates was at the plate and later scored on a Coates’ double to left-center. Thomas Miller was next to bat but was awarded first base after he was hit by a pitch. Both runners moved up to second and third after a Rocky River wild pitch.
With runners on third and second, the Rocky River catcher tried to pick off Coates at third. The throw sailed over the third baseman’s head into left field scoring both Coates and Miller giving the Patriots an 11-0 lead. In the bottom of the third inning, the Ravens were held scoreless which ended the first game of the doubleheader with Independence taking the 11-0 conference win.
Independence 1 4 6 – 11
Rocky River   0 0 0 –  0
In the second game,
Independence was the home team giving Rocky River the first at-bat and the Ravens went down in order. In the bottom half of the inning, Cole Coates reached an error. Since Coates was pitching, DJ Springs came in as a courtesy runner. Springs moved up to second base on a wild pitch. PJ Chiles brought Springs home on a triple to left-center field giving the Patriots a 1-0 lead at the end of one inning. In the top of the second inning, Jan Garcia-Polanco scored for the Ravens to tie the score 1-1. But in the bottom half of the inning, the Patriots answered with three runs of their own.
Joseph Reddish started the bottom half of the second inning by drawing a walk. When Reddish attempted to steal second, the throw went into the outfield and Reddish was safe at third. Cooper Golden was next to the plate and hit a single to right field scoring Reddish from third. Golden advanced to second and third base on wild pitches. Garrett Lawrence came to the plate and scored Golden on a base hit to center field.  Lawrence advanced to second on a throw to first, worked his way to third on a wild pitch, and scored on another wild pitch giving Indy a three-run inning making the score 4-1 in favor of the Patriots. Holding the Ravens scoreless in the top of the third, Indy added five more runs in the bottom of the third. PJ Chiles led off with a base hit to left field and scored on a wild pitch. Jake Stanley followed with a walk and scored on a Joseph Reddish single. With Reddish on base, Frank Jones Jr. reached on a fielder’s choice, and Cooper Golden walked to load the bases. Garrett Lawrence was up next and blasted a triple to right field scoring Reddish, Jones Jr., and Golden making the score 9-1. Indy ended the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jake Stanley reached with a single to the right field. Joseph Reddish doubled to left putting runners on third and second. Frank Jones Jr. stepped up tp the plate and blasted a double scoring Stanley and Reddish ending the game 11-1.
The Patriots improved to 5-5 in conference play with two games remaining in regulation season action against their arch rival the Butler Bulldogs.
Rocky River   0 1 0 0 –  1
Independence 1 3 5 2 – 11
