By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
BRADFORD, PA – Unable to make up for their early shortcomings, the Bradford baseball team fell to Brookville, 10-3, ultimately being swept by the Rovers in the season series.
The first time the Owls and Rovers met was during Bradford’s season opener on Wednesday, March 19. In their first glimpse of action, Bradford narrowly lost 3-2, however, since then, the Owls have begun to find their stride, tacking four wins onto their record.
“It was a very intense game,” said Bradford head coach Eric Haynoski. “It was back and forth and we had a couple mental errors on the bases.”
Although the Owls would hold Brookville at bay in the first, leaving a man stranded on third, the embargo around home plate would only last for so long. After being dispatched in just three batters, Bradford would allow two Rovers on base to start the second. With only one out, Will Shofestall would crack a single through the infield, driving in the first run of the afternoon.
This would begin a Brookville scoring binge that would put them firmly in control early. A walk would load the bases for the Rovers before they tallied their second out via strikeout. They were then gifted two runs off consecutive walks before Ladd Blake rattled off a deep single to center field that brought in two more scores. Although the Owls stopped the bleeding with a pop out immediately after, they looked up at a 5-0 hole early.
Their response, however, was lackluster, with three batters stepping up only to be sent back to the dugout in rapid succession.
The Owls would eventually find a way to counter, but not before suffering a few more self-inflicted wounds. At the top of the third, Brookville’s lead off batter reached on a Bradford error, followed by a dropped third strike that put a second Rover on base. Brookville would then steal second, pulling attention away from their man on third who coasted in for their sixth run of the day.
“We had an excellent practice yesterday. Everybody came ready to go, everyone was rejuvenated. We as coaches talked about how well we looked yesterday and how we thought we’d come ready to play today,” said Haynoski, “but we just came out extremely flat for some reason.”
Getting back to the plate in the bottom of the third, Evan Whitmore kicked things off with a deep ground roll single. A wild pitch moved him to second before Sean Ward pushed him to third on a sacrifice grounder. Another wild pitch and subsequent overthrow let Whitmore cross home plate, breaking the Rovers’ shut out hopes. However, that would be the end of the Owls’ surge, with two outs immediately following their lone run.
Although the fourth frame came and went without incident, the action would return in the fifth.
Maksim Demic finds contact at the plate during the Owls’ 10-3 loss to the Rovers on Wednesday. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
At the top of the inning, the Owls managed to tag on two outs in four batters, albeit, while giving up real estate on first and third. A dropped pitch would give the Rovers another score before Owen Fleming smacked a single for another. Brookville would then tack on one more run before suffering their third out, scoring on another distraction steal, putting the Owls down 9-3.
This time Bradford would respond. AJ Lama led off the order with a deep single before being joined on base from Brody Haviland off a full-count walk. A bunt from Whitmore would load the bases, giving the Owls their best positioning off the game. The next two batters, Braylan Austin and Lucas Wallace would both drive in runs with a pair of singles, however, Brookville would turn a double play to stop the momentum in its tracks.
From there, the game began to wrap up. The Rovers would add one more run to their side of the scoreboard in the seventh, rounding home off an Owls’ error, while Bradford slunk to the finish line, tallying just one hit in the final two frames.
Now sitting at 4-6, the Owls are just a hair beyond the season’s halfway mark. Over the next three weeks and change, Bradford will play their final eight games, starting with Port Allegany on Saturday.
Whitmore finished a perfect 2-for-2 day at the plate, scoring once, while Wallace, Lama and Owen DeGolier also tabbed hits during the loss.
“We want to win, they want to win and it just doesn’t always pan out for us,” said Haynoski. “I think the last eight games, I think we’ll come together. There were some bright spots for us, some kids swinging the bats more. We’ll just take it one game at a time.”
AT BRADFORD
R H E
Brookville 051 030 1 10 7 0
Bradford 001 020 0 3 5 4
Brookville: Burton (3 SO, 1 BB) and Kalgren
Bradford: Tal. Reese (5 SO, 5 BB), Demic (4) (1 SO, 2 BB), Lama (5) (0 SO, 0 BB) and Demic
