Sixty-eight hours after he completed the game of his life against Harding in the first round of the South Piedmont Conference Tournament on Monday, Barnette beat Kannapolis 4-2 in a play-in game to determine the SPC’s No. 3 seed for the state playoffs on Thursday.

Barnette ended the Falcons’ playoff drought, even though his thrilling Thursday was a whole lot tougher than his masterful Monday. Monday, Barnette showed his talent, striking out 13. Thursday, when he whiffed six, he showed his heart.

A weary Barnette didn’t have the popping fastball or the wicked curve he’d had against Harding. He didn’t even have the same catcher. Craig Clary, who doesn’t play much, replaced Ben Hampton, who was limited to DHduties by a collarbone injury. But Barnette threw the ball to Clary’s mitt, kept it down and let his defense do the rest.

“I knew it would be tough, but I asked coach (Chris Cauble) at school today to put me out there,” said Barnette, now 6-5 on the season. “I felt good and wanted to do what I could for the team.”

“Jared showed me something today,” said Cauble. “He’s a competitor.”

The difference between the two teams, who tied for third in the regular season, was that West had its ace going, while Kannapolis didn’t. Wonder coach Empsy Thompson, who along with Cauble and East Rowan’s Jeff Safrit should pace the SPC’s Coach of the Year voting, felt that his big gun, right-hander Bobby Helms, needed at least one more day to bounce back from his win on Monday.

Thompson threw freshman Daniel Smith into the fire instead, and while Smith acquitted himself well, he and reliever Ryan Craft couldn’t match Barnette’s effort.

“There was a lot of pressure on me on my decision to put Daniel out there,” said Thompson. “But there was even more pressure on Daniel.”

West jumped out 2-0 in the first. Shawn Trosper’s RBI groundout got the icebreaker home. Matt Morgan, who had a perfect day, singled with two outs for the second run.

Kannapolis (11-14) evened things in the third inning on a two-run homer by lefty clean-up hitter Josh Lee, who yanked a Barnette offering a country mile.

“Lee’s a strong kid and he was sitting on a first-pitch fastball,” explained Cauble.

The Wonders kept matters at 2-2 with a fine throw to the plate by centerfielder Marcello Stanback in the third and a leaping catch by shortstop Andrew Petty in the fourth.

But West (14-11) snapped the tie in the fifth. And again, Barnette was right in the middle of things. He led off the inning by lifting a ball to short right field.

“I thought it was a routine out,” he said. “But the coaches stress running them out, so I did.”

Wonder right fielder Joel Hyatt and second baseman Steve Swann collided and the ball dropped. A hustling Barnette made it all the way to third base and scored the go-ahead run moments later on a wild pitch by Smith. West added an insurance run later that inning when Drew Callicutt scored on Morgan’s sacrifice fly. Callicutt reached via a walk, went to second on an error, then made a surprise swipe of third when the Wonders forgot that the big guy is West’s top basestealer.

“That was a battling, quality at-bat by Morgan,” said Cauble. “And a good job by Drew to get over to third. That extra run was huge.”

Cauble had hoped to get four innings from Barnette. He asked him after four if he was tired.

“Yes,” said Barnette, truthfully.

“Tired, or hurting?” Cauble asked.

“Tired,” said Barnette.

“One more,” responded Cauble.

Barnette enjoyed a five-pitch fifth.

After that quick frame, Cauble shot him a look and Barnette responded with a grin that said, “Yeah, I know — one more.”

Barnette had a 1-2-3 sixth and actually made it into the seventh, leaving to a Staton Field ovation after a leadoff double by Helms and ball one to Swann. That’s when Cauble handed the ball to Callicutt.

The lefty, throwing nothing but fastballs, mowed down three straight Wonders, getting the dangerous Stanback looking at a called third strike to end the game.

“Drew had good movement, enough to get it by them,” said Cauble. “It was a case of a senior coming through. Our goal from Day One was the state playoffs. We made it.”

West opens the playoffs on Tuesday at highly regarded Central Davidson.

The Wonders came up short, but did make incredible strides in Thompson’s debut season.