A walk-off line drive to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning from Cleveland’s Jake Griffin gave the Blue Raiders a 5-4 win against Bradley Central in District 5-AAA’s premier rivalry.
The Blue Raider shortstop and winning pitcher had been struggling at the plate throughout the early portion of this season but drove a pitch to opposite field to boost Cleveland to the victory.
The hit came with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning after Cleveland used a three-run bottom-of-the-seventh to send the game to extra innings followed by a perfect eight inning on the mound from Griffin.
Bradley Central pitcher Charlie Hammonds tried to hold Cleveland scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, but hit Blue Raider right fielder Joseph Martin with a pitch to put the winning run on base.
Hammonds got the next batter to fly to right field, but walked Johnathan Martin to put two aboard. Landon Allison hit a grounder to advance Joseph Martin to third, bringing up Griffin for the game’s winning hit.
“It was a great come from behind victory for the team,” Griffin said following the victory. “I was looking to drive the ball the other way … but I was just trying to get the base hit anyway I could.”
The Blue Raiders jumped out first in the bottom of the third inning on a Hunter Oliver RBI double to the gap in deep left field, but it was the starting pitchers who dominated the first portion of the game for both teams.
Junior Chantz Placek got the start for Cleveland, battling against Ty King of the Bears. Both King and Placek struck out five through the first four frames, the only blemish for either side being Oliver’s RBI double.
Cleveland Head Coach Ted Carson trotted Placek out for another inning in the fifth, but the Bears’ offense had figured out the junior pitcher and started the fifth with a single up the middle off the bat of Tyler Carpenter followed by a walk to Austin Calfee.
Gunner Norwood bunted the runners over to second and third, bringing up Jeremiah Sims. With three balls and a strike, Placek threw a wild pitch that allowed both runners to score and give the Bears the lead.
The Blue Raiders made some noise in the bottom half of the inning, but Norwood took the mound for the Bears and struck out three consecutive batters with the bases loaded to get the Bears out of the jam. Bradley Central added two more runs in the sixth inning to gain a 4-1 lead.
The score remained the same until the bottom of seventh. Joseph Martin started the seventh with a walk followed by a drive by Derek Nichols that was dropped by the center fielder to put runners on second and third base and bring the tying run to the plate. Bradley Central Head Coach Travis Adams called on reliever Chandler Hamilton to attempt a save.
Keny Christian stepped up to the plate and smacked an RBI single up the middle to bring Cleveland within two runs. Emory King followed by getting on base after he was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Blue Raiders, still with no outs. Nichols scored on a fielder’s choice to bring Cleveland within one run before a wild pitch scored Harbor Jefferson to tie the game.
The hero of the game, Griffin, pitched a perfect eighth inning, which included catching a hard-hit line drive back toward the mound to rob Bradley of a hit before getting the winning hit in the bottom of the inning.
The game and the winning hit were admittedly the biggest of Griffin’s career and gave him confidence he needs moving forward, Griffin said.
The two teams will meet against Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Bradley Central for the last game of the series.
LINESCORE
Bradley – 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 – 4 7 2
Cleveland – 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 – 5 7 3