Jim Cutler recently got out his old scorebooks to look up all the times his Liberty High School baseball teams had to deal with Brandon Inge.

Cutler, who spent 45 years as Liberty's coach, is one of many area residents who remember when Inge was a pitcher and shortstop for Seminole District member Brookville.

Inge, who graduated from the Lynchburg-area high school in 1995, has made it to the World Series as the starting third baseman for the AL champion Detroit Tigers.

"He was just awesome," said Cutler, who retired last year. "He was one of the best high school players that I ran up against."

Hidden Valley girls' basketball coach Mike McGuire was a teammate of Inge in the 1994 Commonwealth Games at Cave Spring and in the 1995 Virginia High School Coaches Association All-Star Game in Hampton.

"He was very focused," said McGuire, a former William Byrd outfielder. "You could tell Brandon had a special gift. He was probably the hardest thrower I've ever played with or against."

Brookville will retire Inge's jersey at a December ceremony that Inge is expected to attend. Inge led Brookville to a 24-3 mark as a senior in 1995, when the Bees lost in the Group AA final. Inge hit a two-run homer and pitched a two-hitter in a 5-0 win over Salem in the Region III quarterfinals that year.

It has been "surreal" for Brookville's Jim White, who will mark his 25th season coaching the Bees next spring, to see his former player now on a much grander postseason stage.

"He is the hardest working person I have ever been around," White said. "We would finish [practice] and I'd go home and I'd let him close the school. He'd come back with his brother and they were out there hitting in the cage."

Inge started at second base as a Brookville freshman, but White used a designated hitter to bat for him that year. He then became a three-year starter at shortstop, and a mainstay in the batting order. He hit .387 with 12 homers and 62 RBIs in his Brookville career.

"He was the kid in the lineup that you didn't want to have beat you," Jefferson Forest coach Jim Thacker said.

Inge went 22-6 in his prep pitching career. He had 285 strikeouts, a 1.72 ERA and four saves in 162 career innings.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Inge is two inches taller and about 30 pounds heavier than he was in high school. Pro scouts weren't interested in him in high school because of his size, White said.

Thacker remembers one game when Jefferson Forest had the winning run on second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. He said Inge struck out his No. 3 and 4 hitters -- future NFL player Anthony Poindexter and future Virginia baseball player Ryan Gilleland -- to end the game.

"He could throw it by most guys," said Poindexter, now a UVa football assistant. "That's what would shock you, that a guy not that big ... could throw it up there that hard."

Inge threw in the low 90s in high school. In Brookville's 6-4 comeback win over Lord Botetourt in the 1994 Region III quarterfinals, Inge struck out eight and allowed no hits in 3 ²₃ innings of relief.

"He came in throwing gas and shut us down," former Lord Botetourt coach Chuck Pound said.

In 1994, Inge used his bat and arm to help Bedford Post 54 reach the American Legion World Series. He was the winning pitcher in the state and regional title games en route to the Series.

That also was the summer he played in the Commonwealth Games.

"Brandon at the high-school level was ... just that rare athlete that you don't see a lot of times," said former Cave Spring coach Roger White, who was Inge's Commonwealth Games head coach.

"Sometimes you'll have kids come through and they're dominant pitchers, or they can hit. But Brandon could pretty much do anything."

Inge helped the West win the VHSCA all-star game in 1995. Early in the game, he hurt his hand sliding into second base. He went to the hospital, got stitches and came back and pitched the final inning.

Inge continued to do double duty at Virginia Commonwealth, where he was a standout as a shortstop and closer. Gilleland remembered a time Inge homered against UVa.

"He hit one probably about 450 feet -- one of the furthest balls I've ever seen hit," said Gilleland, a current Jefferson Forest assistant who not only played against Inge in high school and college but also was his American Legion teammate. "When he got to college, he really put a lot of time in the weight room. ... He definitely wouldn't be where he was without his work ethic."

The Tigers chose the second-team All-American in the second round of the 1998 draft. He reached the majors three years later.

Inge hit .253 with 27 homers and 83 RBIs in the regular season this year. He had two hits in Detroit's Game 2 win Sunday.

Inge lives in Charlotte, N.C., in the offseason, but his parents and brother still live in Lynchburg.

Former William Byrd coach Gary Walthall assisted the West coaching staff in the 1994 Commonwealth Games. Inge got him tickets to a Tigers game this season.

Walthall's beloved New York Yankees were knocked out of the playoffs by the Tigers, so he is rooting for Detroit.

"Only because of Brandon," Walthall said.

Batting average: .387

Homers: 12

RBIs: 62

Pitching record: 22-6

Saves: 4

ERA: 1.72

Strikeouts: 285

Innings pitched: 162

From Bee To Tiger

Inge's career statistics at Brookville High School:

Inge's regular-season stats with Detroit this year:

Batting average: .253

Homers: 27

RBIs: 83