By Jackson Maxwell

THOMPSONS STATION — After giving up one run in the first inning, Independence’s pitching staff was able to put up zeros the rest of the way to defeat McGavock 6-1 in Monday’s Region 6-AAA baseball tournament semifinal.

The victory for the Eagles guarantees that they will be playing in Wednesday’s regional championship, as well as the Class AAA state sectional Friday.

Ben Cleaver earned the win, pitching a strong 4 1/3 innings followed by scoreless relief appearances from Will Tobin and Jacob Almon. 

“I knew it was gonna be tough. We didn’t take good swings early.” said Independence coach Mike McLaury. “We hit a couple balls hard late.

“This is baseball and it happens all the time. You have times where you struggle early, and you hit some line drives late and it’s at ‘em.”

McLaury was mostly happy about his pitching and his team.

“We are an even-keeled team,” he said. “We don’t get too high or too low. They save that for me.”

Creed McClellan had the hit of the day, driving in two runs. 

“We were able to keep our bats going and able to keep our confidence going and just put the ball in play,” McClellan said. “We have to keep on playing our game and playing our way to keep the bats flowing.”

Independence will host District 11-AAA tournament runner-up — and regular-season titlist — Ravenwood in Wednesday’s region finals, with both teams advancing to the sectionals. Ravenwood defeated host Overton 2-0 in Monday’s semifinal.