CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Bradley Bears continued their impressive run of late, winning for the eighth consecutive time Tuesday night by completing a dominating 5AAA sweep of Ooltewah. The Bears finished off the sweep in style, adding their third consecutive run-ruling of a league foe, including back to back shortened outings with the Owls after last night’s 11-1 six-inning win.
After scoring three runs or less in eight of their first 15 games this year, the Bears have suddenly become a merry-go-round on the base paths, pushing across 69 runs in the eight wins after tallying just 49 in their first 15.
And even more impressive is the fact Bradley has allowed two runs or less in each of the eight wins.
Ooltewah had hoped to rebound after a poor effort in Monday’s 12-1 loss in which the Owls walked 10 batters, including four with the bases loaded, but it was another rough night on the mound. Ooltewah starter Isaac Hughes hit three batters with pitches, twice with the bases full and walked four of the seven free passes Owl pitchers issued.
The Owls had taken a 1-0 lead in the first with three singles in the inning, including Dominic Mackaluso’s run-scoring single. Noah Huling led off with an infield single and was sacrificed to second before Mackaluso delivered. After a stolen base, Mackaluso was then thrown out at the plate to end the inning after Andrew Zettel’s single to center.
Bradley tied it in the first after an error, an Ethan Lambreth single and walk loaded the bases. Hughes then hit Daniel Cox to force in the run. In the second, a pair of walks and Ashton Simmons ground out produced the go-ahead run without getting a ball out of the infield.
Dakota Peace had a two-out RBI-double in the fourth to push it to 3-1 after another hit by pitch put a runner on in front of him. In the fifth, it was an error, a walk and Aiden McClary’s pop fly single to left which loaded the bases before Iverson Vazquez was plunked with a pitch to force in a run and make it 4-1.
The Bears then poured on seven runs in the sixth to end it early. Owl reliever Patrick Clarkson walked the bases full before McClary greeted Eli Smith with an RBI-single. Vazquez followed with a run scoring single and Gavin Burnett added an RBI-single to make it 9-1. With the bases still loaded, the Bears strolled home twice on back-to-back wild pitches to end it.
McClary had two hits for the Bears and Simmons struck out six in six innings to notch the win as Bradley improved to 7-3 in league play. Ooltewah lost its fourth straight and finished up 5AAA play at 4-8 with a bye next week.
Soddy Daisy 5, Cleveland 4: The Trojans finally broke through into the win column after seven straight league defeats, handing the Blue Raiders a costly defeat in the process. Soddy Daisy had taken an early 2-0 lead after AJ Florio’s RBI double and an error and added another run in the second on a wild pitch. Cleveland scored a solo run in the first on Haydon Sells RBI ground out and actually took the lead in the fourth with a big three-run outburst.
Hayden Tinsley had the big hit in the inning for Cleveland with a two-run double and an error pushed across another run to make it 4-3 in favor of the Blue Raiders. Soddy Daisy was able to tie it with a run in the fifth thanks to Will Ackerman’s run scoring single and then took advantage of a hit by pitch, two walks and a Blue Raider error in the sixth to take the lead.
From there, Trojan reliever Hunter Ward retired the final six hitters in relief of Hayden Maynor, who struck out five in five innings. Maynor had two hits as well as did Florio. The loss drops Cleveland out of a tie with Bradley for the second seed with one series left before the tournament.
McMinn County 4, East Hamilton 1: The Cherokees completed the sweep getting another big time performance from Hayden Frank on the mound and pushing across all the runs they would need in one inning. Frank allowed just four hits and struck out 11 Hurricane hitters.
The Canes had taken a 1-0 lead in the first after Chase Roberts doubled and Ethan Evans singled to push him across, but the Cherokees responded with a four-run second and that was more than enough for Frank.
Andrew Ronne drew a walk to start the inning for the Cherokees before Jayden Miller doubled. Sam Goodin then delivered the big hit with a two-run single. The Canes almost got out of it, but a two-run error with the bases loaded on Will Grimmett’s grounder pushed across two more. Evans had two hits for East Hamilton.
DISTRICT 5AAA STANDINGS
McMinn County 8-2
Bradley Central 7-3
Cleveland 6-4
Walker Valley 5-5
Ooltewah 4-8
East Hamilton 3-7
Soddy Daisy 3-7
APRIL 26-27 GAMES
East Hamilton vs Bradley
McMinn County vs Cleveland
Walker Valley vs Soddy Daisy
Bye: Ooltewah
Silverdale 11, Grace Academy 1: The Seahawks picked up their 20th win of the year as Sebastain Hanks and Ian Reagan combined to drive in seven runs. Hanks hit a three-run homer to break the game open and added a sac fly to account for four runs while Reagan drove in three on the day. Turner Junkins and Brett Rogers each had two hits. Corey Clift and Evan Padgett each pitched three innings with both striking out four. SBA is now 20-2-1 on the year.
Boyd Buchanan 9, Notre Dame 1: The Bucs returned the favor one day after dropping a 9-1 decision to the Irish as Perry Griffin struck out 13 batters in a complete-game effort for Boyd Buchanan and got plenty of offensive support.
The Bucs got an RBI-double off the bat of Jacob Pickett in the first after Notre Dame had taken a 1-0 lead in the first. The Johnston brothers, Brodie and Cody, combined for six hits with Brodie getting a big two-run homer in the fourth and sparking a four-run fifth with a run scoring double. Cooper Jones added a two-run double in the big fifth and Jacob Hutcherson plated a run with a single.
Notre Dame left the bases loaded in the first two innings as Griffin twice reached back to record a pair of strikeouts in each inning to squelch the potential rally. A double play in the fourth also left two Irish runners stranded.
Brodie Johnston had three hits on the day and Cody added another three knocks. Jones drove in three runs with a pair of hits while Pickett had three hits and Logan McBryar added two in a 15-hit assault on Irish pitching.
Jacob Eargle had a double among his two hits and Alec Bauchard tallied two hits for Notre Dame.
McCallie 13, CCS 1: McCallie pushed across a pair of five-run innings in the fourth and fifth frames to make short work of the Chargers. The Blue Tornado had taken a first-inning lead on Carter Hewitt’s two-run double and Hudson Calhoun hit a solo homer to lead off the third, but the Blues exploded in their next two at bats.
Nolan Sergeant followed Kyle Berry’s double in the fourth with a double for the first run in the fourth. Calhoun and Grayson Smith each added ground out RBI. In the fifth, Austin Breedlove had a bases-loaded single to plate a pair and two bases-loaded walks pushed across the necessary runs to make it a five-inning game. William Baker got the win allowing just two hits and striking out three as McCallie improved to 16-2 on the season. Henry Horne had two of the Chargers’ three hits in the loss.
Baylor 10-12, Knox Catholic 0-2: The Red Raiders got a pair of special pitching performances and brought their usual potent offense to back them in sweeping the double-header with the Irish. Jay Dill struck out 14 Irish batters and twirled a six-inning no-hitter in the first win while Patrick Johnson struck out 12 and gave up just three hits in the nightcap.
Cooper Kinney had a nice day at the plate, going 4-for-4 in the opener with a double and solo homer, and added three more hits in the second game, including a three-run bomb in the second one. He drove in six runs on the day. Danny Corona homered and doubled in the first game while Vilo Valincius, and Carson Yates each had two hits with Yates picking up two RBI. Dill added a pair of RBI as well in the opener.
I
n the second game, Nick Kurtz had a pair of hits and Caleb Hampton homered as Baylor improved to 16-2 on the year.
Red Bank and Central: The District 6AA game was postponed due to COVID contact tracing from a Central player. The Pounders will take the rest of the week off but should be cleared to play their final series next week against Signal Mountain. The Red Bank game is rescheduled for May 4th.