Knoxville holds off Independence, 5-3 (w/video)

DES MOINES – They proved they belonged

That's what was left Tuesday afternoon for the Independence Mustangs, whose improbable postseason run ended with a 5-3 loss to Knoxville in a Class 3A state baseball tournament quarterfinal.

Make that an expected loss. After all, this was a group that somehow made it to Principal Park despite a 14-23 record.

They kept insisting they weren't that bad, something Knoxville would have to agree with. It took a four-run fourth inning for the top-seeded Panthers (25-9) to finally end this unexpected run.

“I knew their record was misleading because they play a lot of good teams,” said Knoxville pitcher Eric Jones.”I expected it to be a good game.”

“Hopefully you'll see Independence down here every year now,” said Indee's Austin Pink, whose school made its first state appearance since 1996. “This is going to help make this program as good as it can be.”

Independence took a 3-1 lead in the third inning after Sam Rasmussen singled home Keaton Hosch, who had doubled. Pitcher Pink (6-6) looked capable of making that edge hold up until a bloop double to short center started Knoxville's rally.

Three hits later, and the Panthers were ahead for good.

 “I was feeling really good,” Pink said. “I was cruising along and then … I don't know. They just started hitting the ball. You put enough people on, and that's going to kill you.”

“We had one bad inning where we kind of fell apart,” Hosch said. “That did it.”

Indee's best chance to get back in it came in the fifth when it had runners on second and third with two outs. Knoxville intentionally walked Blaize Cabell (who had a team-leading .480 batting average) to load the bases and Nick Zieser grounded back to Jones.

The Knoxville ace (10-2) set down the next six Mustangs to end it.

“This is a great bunch of individuals,” said Independence Coach Jim Arnold. “We don't have a lot of numbers, but, you know what, these guys have been out there every day, working hard. As the postseason came, we got a few practices in, and they just took off.”

Arnold asked his team if it wanted to help sandbag and clean out basements in homes and businesses that suffered flooding Friday night after torrential rains swelled the Wapsipinicon River that runs through the heart of town.

The group worked until 2 a.m. Saturday.

“I can't say enough about these guys,” Arnold said. “They wanted to go out and help. All it took was for me to send a text message to them … They knew what needed to be done. We've been through it a lot of times before. But it speaks to these kids … I tell you what, when they get done with college, they're going to make somebody a great employee.”

Here are short video interviews with Pink (right) and Hosch (left), as well as Coach Arnold: