To pitch better than he had in his previous two starts, Vina senior James Barnes would have needed to be just about perfect.
On Thursday night against Tharptown, he was.
Barnes, a senior right-hander, retired all 15 batters he faced in a 13-0 win over the Wildcats, striking out 12 and finishing with a perfect game. It was his second career no-hitter, the first having come less than two weeks ago in a 19-2 rout of Hubbertville on March 6. In between that start and Thursday’s outing, Barnes threw a one-hitter on Saturday in a victory over Lynn.
All in all, not a bad run for Barnes, who didn’t even realize he had thrown a no-hitter against Hubbertville until first-year head coach Jake Ward told him right after the game ended.
“He knew he had a no-hitter this time,” Ward said with a smile on Thursday night.
In fact, Barnes had something even better. There are any number of things that can happen (an error, a walk, a hit batter, catcher’s interference, even a ball that gets by the catcher on a swinging strike three) to disrupt a perfect game, but none of them happened on Thursday at Vina. Barnes, who complements his low-80s fastball with a curve and a changeup, bested his strikeout total from the Hubbertville no-hitter by two, finishing with an even dozen.
Ward said the only real close call came in the third inning when Barnes made a nice play himself on a slow roller.
“They had a couple of swinging bunts, and those are sometimes scary,” Ward said. “There was one in the third inning, I think, that was a tough one, but James was able to come in and make the play.
“He’s been known to walk one or two most of the time, but tonight he really went after them. He was just attacking the strike zone.”
Barnes needed just 61 pitches to finish his five-inning complete game. Offense wasn’t an issue, as the Red Devils (7-2 overall, 2-0 in Class 1A, Area 13) scored six runs in the bottom of the first and seven more in the second. Austin Harper went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored, and Austin Childers was 1-for-1 with two RBIs. Tyler Renfrow scored two runs, and Justin Gravitt and Blake Hardin each had two hits. Barnes also pitched in at the plate, finishing 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Vina finished off the sweep in Thursday’s nightcap, extending its win streak to seven games and improving to 2-0 in area play with a 7-0 win. Gravitt, a senior lefty, dominated on the mound, striking out 11 batters and holding Tharptown to just one hit in 5.1 innings. Between them, he and Barnes struck out 23 and allowed one hit in 10.1 shutout innings on Thursday.
“Those are great numbers for our pitching staff,” Ward marveled after the second game. “It’s a blessing to have the pitching we’ve got.”
Austin Harper relieved Gravitt (who issued five walks on the night) in the sixth and needed only nine pitches to record the final five outs. Childers led the way at the plate in game two, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Vina will host Cherokee this afternoon before opening its second area series next Monday at Belgreen.
