CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central scored a fourth-inning run by playing “small ball” and made it stand up in a 1-0 victory over rival Cleveland on Wednesday to sweep a season-opening District 5-AAA two-game series.
In the Bears’ fourth, Brantly White walked and moved to second on Charles Chavis’ sacrifice bunt. A passed ball sent White to third and he scored on Caleb Pippenger’s sacrifice fly.
Bradley Central (2-0 overall, 2-0 district) managed just three hits in the game, as did Cleveland (0-2, 0-2).
Jacob Fowler pitched 5.1 innings and chalked up the win for the Bears. Ryan Blair and had to work hard for the save.
With two runners on base, Blair relieved Fowler and promptly walked Michael Henderson to load the bases. He struck out Jackson Earl and Eric Plumb popped out to second ending the threat.
Blair gave up a one-out double to Cleveland’s Reed Allison in the seventh. He went to second on a sacrifice bunt, Jake Wyrick walked and a fly-out to right field ended the game.
The Bears won Tuesday's series opener, 8-6.
White went 2-for-3, drove in a run and scored once for the Bears.
Jacob Maynard was the winning pitcher and Ty King picked up the save.
Cleveland's Conner Mitchell took the loss. Wyrick went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs while scoring once for the Blue Raiders. Ryan Adkins also had two RBIs.
The teams combined for eight errors, 17 walks and five hit batsmen.
Wednesday’s Game
Cleveland 000 000 0 -- 0 3 0
Bradley Central 000 100 x -- 1 3 0
LP Taylor Thompson and Eric Plumb; WP Jacob Fowler, 5 ip 6, Ryan Blair (6) and Caleb Pippenger.
Tuesday’s Game
Bradley Central 004 031 0 — 8 8 5
Cleveland 001 050 0 — 6 7 3
WP – Jacob Maynard, LP: Conner Mitchell. Save – Ty King.