Kuhn freezes hitter to close out Marion district win

FARLEY - David Kuhn called his last pitch of a 2-0 Marion win over Western Dubuque last night ‘beady,' and in the definition of the word, that's a good way to describe it.

With men on second and third in the top of the seventh inning in the Class 3A Substate 4 District 8 baseball final, Kuhn caught Western Dubuque's Tyler Johnson looking on strike three at an outside pitch. The toss was small, round, and gleaming - beady.

'That was good,” Kuhn said of his pitch to end the game. 'Seeing it hit the spot, it just looked beady, right where I wanted it. It hit the outside part, [Johnson] was looking curveball and he didn't get it. It just froze him.”

Marion catcher Maverick Miller had the best view of the pitch, and he said he knew it was going to get called a strike once it left Kuhn's hand.

'Right on the outside corner, that was a great pitch by David,” Miller, who sent the go-ahead run across the plate with a single in the bottom of the third, said. 'He kept his head, I was very impressed. I have caught him a lot of times before, and he's one of my favorite pitchers to catch for.”

It was Kuhn's 109th pitch of the night on a six-strikeout, one-walk performance, and despite giving up nine hits throughout the game, Kuhn and the Indians were able to hold on defensively to advance to the next round of substate.

The Bobcats left a total of 11 runners on base throughout the game, and that kind of confidence in his team's defense is what Marion head coach Steve Fish said kept him from pulling Kuhn off the mound with two runners in scoring position with the game on the line.

'We knew it was getting up there, but he's a kid who can handle it,” Fish said. 'He only pitches once a week, and he wants the ball. We let him finish it out. He was our guy.”

Marion will take on the winner of Assumption and DeWitt in the substate championship game on Wednesday. and even though he didn't know who his team would be facing at the time, Fish said he already knew his 'basic” baseball team wouldn't be favored.

'We're just a basic baseball team,” Fish said. 'We're not flashy, we're not gonna wow you. We're going to play good defense and get good pitching and maybe get some timely hitting. 'I don't know if we play Assumption or if we play DeWitt, but I'm sure we'll be the underdog either way.”

l Comments: ben.ross@thegazettecompany.com