By HUNTER O. LYLE
BRADFORD, PA – Unable to weather an eruption in the fourth, the Bradford baseball team’s mid-season skid continued as they suffered a 13-3, 5-inning loss to Elk County Catholic.
Entering Monday’s game, the Crusaders and Owls had been experiencing two different seasons. After starting their campaign 0-2, ECC quickly pulled in the reins, collecting 10 straight victories as they traveled to see the Owls. Bradford, on the other hand, saw the opposite side of the spectrum, starting 2-1 before tumbling to a 3-8 record.
“It’s not where we expected to be. If you work hard and you do the right things and do all the little things that baseball requires, you can be successful,” said Bradford head coach Eric Haynoski, “but when you’re not doing them, and you’re not giving it 100 percent, you’re not going to get that result.”
Coming off a competitive game against DuBois Central Catholic on Friday, which saw extra innings, the Owls’ resolve seemed to carry over as they dispatched the Crusaders in three in the lead-off frame. However, ECC was quick to return the favor as they put Bradford out in four – Braylan Austin tallied the Owls’ first hit of the game via two-out single. Then, the Crusaders began to break through.
After suffering an initial out on their initial man up, ECC then loaded the bases through the next three, tallying two singles and a walk before a sac-fly from Gideon Cronk brought in the first run of the day. With two outs, Brady Leathers rattled off a single that put the Crusaders up 3-0. Although Bradford found a third out immediately after, then putting two men on with a single from Jamin Bell and a Ben Woodhouse walk, ECC shut the door sooner rather than later with a smooth double-play at third and first.
Seeing the deficit grow to four through the top of the third – ECC’s Charlie Geci scored on an RBI-single from Wyatt Brem – the Owls finally found a response during their next trip to the plate. Sean Ward opened the inning with his first hit of the day, cracking a single past second before Jackson Peterson repeated the feat to put two men on base with no outs. Two batters later, Tarren Reese ended the shutout with a line-drive double that tallied Ward’s second score of the season.
“We were putting the ball in play and had a couple bright spots,” said Haynoski. “(ECC) just made some good defensive plays and their pitcher was able to locate pitches. He wasn’t over-powering, but he was hitting corners and hitting spots and making our batters hit his pitches.”
However, the lone run proved to be the full extent of the action in the bottom of the third. And then the wheels fell off.
Firing back sooner rather than later, the Crusaders got back to the top of their lineup with a lead-off single and subsequent full-count walk. Stepping into the batters’ box for his third time of the afternoon, Matthew Gilmore brought in ECC’s fifth score with a RBI-single before a sacrifice bunt from Chase Simbeck then moved the two remaining runners into scoring position.
Despite picking up their second out, the Crusaders only picked up steam. A walk would load the bases, setting the stage for the next three batters to bring in four runs with back-to-back RBI-singles and a self-inflicted wound via Owls’ error. As Bradford tried to shut the valve off, ultimately switching pitchers twice, the Crusaders continued to send men across home plate, scoring three more runs and building a 13-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
“(ECC) was just able to find every little gap and hole on the field,” said Haynoski. “They were spreading the ball all over the field.”
While the Owls had one counterpunch left in the tank, scoring two runs in the fourth with a RBI-singles from Peterson and Lucas Wallace, their efforts fell short of a comeback. Despite putting the Crusaders out in four in the fifth, their own work at the plate resulted in a similar outcome, ultimately leading to their ninth loss of the season.
Seven Owls ended with hits throughout the afternoon. Reese led the way with two RBIs on a 2-for-3 day in the batters’ box, followed by Jamin Bell who ended 2-for-2. Wallace went 1-for-3 with an RBI, Max Gow went 1-for-3 with one run scored and Ward recorded a 1-for-1 day at the plate with two runs.
Just over the halfway mark, Bradford’s playoff hopes are teetering in the balance. Playing under a 0.500 rule, the Owls will have to win seven of their final eight games in order to punch their ticket to the District 9 Class 3A postseason, a feat the Haynoski knows will be tough, but not impossible.
“Our goal is to win seven out of eight. It’s not a goal that’s not unobtainable. If we really put our minds to it and our focus to it, I think we can do it,” said Haynoski. “I’m not blind to what’s happening, this has been a terrible slide, but I do think they have it in them and I do think we have the talent. That’s the tough part, seeing all these losses pile up with the talent that we have. It’s a hard pill to swallow.”
AT BRADFORD
Elk County Catholic 031 90 R:13 H:10 E:0
Bradford 001 20 R:3 H:9 E: 3
Elk County Catholic: Brem (3 SO, 3 BB) and HasselmanBradford: Reese (2 SO, 5 BB), Parisella (4) (0 SO, 1 BB), Christjohn (4) (1 SO, 0 BB) and Haviland
