It's the Hines Show

The Fifth District American Legion Tournament has suddenly turned into the Blaine Hines Show.

The “who” show?

Oh, you haven’t heard of Blaine Hines?

Well, don’t feel out of the loop.

The young man never got the attention he deserved while pitching at Van Horn High School, and he labored in the inner-city RBI League for six years before joining Blue Springs Post 499/Fike as a closer last year.

This year, he has developed into the premier pitcher for manager Jim Moran’s team and has emerged as one of the best pitchers in the metro area.

“I bet Blaine’s legs are tired because he carried the team tonight,” teammate Lucas Jensen said. “That’s a metaphor – but he really did carry us.”

Some how, some way Hines dug deep down and turned in the most important 7 1/3 innings of his life as he helped Fike down Independence Post 21 13-6 in a must-win situation.

Fike had not defeated Post 21 all season and needed a victory over the Independence power house to advance to Friday night’s championship game against the Blue Springs Rod’s Sports A’s.

“I don’t know how he did it,” added Ross Taylor, Fike’s slick fielding first baseman. “He’s a freak. His arm must be made of rubber. He threw so many innings this week. The way he pitched this week, I’d rank him with (A’s starter) Kyle (Barbeck).

“Barbeck’s one of the best pitchers I’ve ever seen. But I’ve never seen anyone do what Blaine did this week.”

Hines threw 8 1/3 innings to win Monday’s night 5-4 game against Oak Grove. He came back to pitch one inning – striking out all three batters he faced – to save a wild 9-8 victory over Raytown Post 596 a night later and threw 7 1/3 magical innings Friday.

That’s a total of 16 2/3 innings.

“I told this to Blaine, I told this to his dad and I will tell it to you,” Moran said. “Blaine has been a very good pitcher for us all year. But tonight, he became a complete pitcher. He went out there without his best stuff and shut down the best offensive team in the area.

“And he’s such a great kid, a quiet kid, an unassuming kid – he’s the type of kid you like to see good things happen to. I don’t know where we would have been without him in this tournament.”

Before the start of this season, Hines was nothing more than a blip on the radar screen of American Legion Baseball. Now, he’s a solid contender for The Examiner’s Player of the Year Award.

He improved to 8-1 Friday night and his 1.50 ERA is so tiny you need a microscope to find it.

And talk about humble. I’ve met batboys with more of an attitude than the young man with the golden arm.

“When Jim asked me about pitching tonight I told him that I wanted the ball,” Hines said, after loading up a water cooler with ice for his teammates. “I also told him I didn’t think I could go past four or five innings.

“But surprisingly, my arm feels pretty good. I gave the team everything I could this week, and I’m proud of my contribution. But I wasn’t the only guy who contributed. We had some great hitters this week and played great defense. It was a lot of fun.”

When asked about his moment in the spotlight, Hines simply smiled.

“You don’t get a lot of attention playing at Van Horn, but that’s all right with me,” he said. “I enjoyed playing at Van Horn, but I knew people were saying things like, ‘He’s only good because he pitched against those Interscholastic League teams.’

“Well, I was thinking that myself. When I started pitching for Fike, I wondered if I could get these guys out.”

He answered that question this season, and added an exclamation point this week.

“I love the kid,” Moran said. “When you go out and have to win a game, and don’t have your best stuff, and do what he did tonight tells you a lot about the young man,” Moran said.

Oh, and here’s some bad news for Fike opponents.

Hines is coming back next season.

“Next year should be a lot of fun, but I still have a lot of things to look forward to this year,” Hines said. “I’m hoping to start when we play St. Joseph at 5 p.m. next Thursday in zone play.”

He paused, and added, “I want the ball in that first game. But I also want to pitch that night because my girlfriend is off work and can she can come watch me. I always throw better when she’s watching.”

Yes, she was in the stands Friday night. And I’m betting that Moran finds a way for her to be at every game for the remainder of this season.