Winder-Barrow High Knocks Off Defending NHSI Champ Huntington Beach

CARY, N.C.–As the old adage goes, you have to knock out the champions to beat them.

It took 10 innings Wednesday, but Winder-Barrow High (Winder, Ga.) finally pulled it off.

A decided underdog against defending National High School Invitational champs Huntington Beach (Calif.) High, Winder-Barrow got 103 gutsy pitches from senior lefthander Daniel Buice—who outdueled lefthander Nick Pratto, No. 8 on the Top 100 Draft Prospects—to win 3-1 in 10 innings.

Buice, who sat 80-84 mph with his fastball, baffled Huntington Beach’s lineup, which includes Pratto and Hagen Danner, the No. 53 draft prospect. Buice allowed just five hits and a walk in eight innings, striking out four. He added and subtracted and kept Huntington batters off balance, aided by a strong wind that kept Pratto’s long drive to right in the third inning in the ballpark.

After the game, Buice was just as much as a bulldog off the mound as he was on it.

“Here’s what happened. When I woke up this morning, I got a feeling,” he said. “They’re human beings just like us. So what, they got draft prospects, yeah great for them. I loved going out there and putting it right back at them. I enjoyed every moment of that.”

Winder-Barrow coach Brian Smith—who had players who were chanting, ‘Don’t even call it an upset”—said his team was ready.

“First of all, we believe in who we are,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who’s over there. It’s about us. I’m not surprised at all. I think we got a chip on our shoulder. That’s the way we believe. They believe they deserve good things because they work so hard every single day.”

Pratto did all he could to keep Huntington Beach from losing. He pitched 9.1 dominant innings, striking out nine and mostly making easy work of Winder-Barrow with a fastball that reached 91 mph and a curveball with bite. But coach Benji Medure knew his team had to score soon.

“Around the seventh inning, I turned to my assistant coach and I said, ‘They’re sticking around too long, sooner or later they’re going to get us,” said Medure, whose team is in the NHSI for the third straight season. “I think we pressed; I think we tried to do too much, and they preyed on it.”

In the 10th inning, Pratto gave up a single to Beau Hanna. A pinch runner was then sacrificed to second base, and then Zach Smith belted one down the right field line for a double to give Winder-Barrow the lead. Pratto remained in the game and gave up a line-drive single to Darren Woodall to make it 3-1. Woodall, the sidearming righty, closed out the game with his second inning of scoreless relief of Buice.

Still, Medure was unbowed.

“I swear I love baseball, and we’ll be back tomorrow,” he said.