You couldn’t have asked for a better day for a home opener. After weeks of rain and snow, Bradford and Johnsonburg got to play on a beautiful 70-plus degree Friday evening.
Unfortunately for the Owls, the result wasn’t as nice as the weather, as Bradford fell to the Rams 7-5.
Johnsonburg (3-1) was able to get to Bradford starter Dan Manion for six runs in the first two innings, highlighted by a two-run home run by Johnny Mitchell in the first frame.
The Rams would also add four runs in the second inning, all of which came with two outs against them.
“They hit one ball hard in the first and you can’t take that away from them,” Owls coach Andy Carlson said. “But if we just make the plays in the second inning, they put up a zero spot and after two or three, we’re up 3-2.”
With the bases loaded and two away in the top of the second, the Owls (0-2) had a chance to get out of the inning unscathed, but an errant throw kept the inning alive.
Neil MacDonald then knocked in a two-run single to make it 6-0. Bradford backstop Caleb Nuzzo eventually ended the inning on a great throw to second to prevent an attempted steal, but the damage had been done.
The chaotic, abbreviated early schedule certainly hasn’t helped keep teams sharp, but Carlson said his team still needs to make the necessary plays.
“You can talk about practice all you want but you’ve gotta make the plays,” he said. “They’ve been struggling with the same weather. You go make the plays and you win. One of the things we talk about is we’re not into excuses, we just go play. If we lose we lose, if we win we win. We just play hard and see what happens.”
Johnsonburg coach Jeff Peterson was pleased with his team’s approach on Friday after some lackluster hitting to start the season.
“I don’t know if it was the weather or what but all these cold days we looked terrible swinging the bat,” Peterson said. “I’ve changed this lineup every way you can change it. That one there, I liked what I saw tonight. We got some bats out of the bottom and we got some power out of the top. We looked pretty good today.”
Bradford regained its composure to score three runs in the second and cut the deficit in half, with Tyler Gigliotti notching a two-run single and Adam Boyer scoring on a passed ball.
The Owls had a big opportunity in the fourth inning that went by the wayside: after scoring on a throwing error to make it 7-4, Bradford had the bases loaded and only one out, but ended up hitting into a 6-2-3 double play.
“Offensively, we’re not really taking bad swings,” Carlson said. “The only time it seems like we’re taking bad swings is when we have runners in scoring position. We had a couple times with bases loaded and we hit choppers to shortstop. We just haven’t come through with the big hit yet.”
It was a big escape for Rams starter Johnny Mitchell, who only struck out one batter but yielded just three walks and five hits in five innings.
“Strikes is the name of the game,” Peterson said about Mitchell’s performance. “These guys made plays behind him. We’ve got a nice defense; let these guys put it in play and let our guys make plays. But he did one heck of a job. Gavin Elmquist came in and threw a nice inning for us and (freshman) Gabe Watts came in at the end to close it out for us.”
The Owls got a nice relief outing from Gigliotti, who worked the better part of five innings, striking out two and allowing three walks and three hits.
“I’ve told Tyler he’s got a chance to be our best arm,” Carlson said. “He’s probably our best athlete overall. He did a great job. He just battled. The one run he gave up wasn’t really on him. For us to go somewhere, we’re going to rely on Tyler to be something special this year.”
Boyer brought home another Bradford run in the sixth on an RBI single, but it would be the last run to cross the plate for either team.
Elsewhere, Bradford’s Brody Nay finished 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, while Johnsonburg’s Josh Thorwart went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Final score aside, both teams were just happy to be able to play in reasonably accommodating conditions for a change.
“This gets everyone’s morale a little higher after you’re stuck in a gym all the time,” Peterson said. “These guys were pretty excited, pretty pumped up. They were a little looser, and the more games you get to play back-to-back, the more you’re going to get into a rhythm and be ready to go.”
While Bradford is scheduled to travel to Iroquois today, these two squads will (weather permitting) meet again on Monday. Carlson is eager for the rematch.
“There’s no doubt we can play with them,” he said. “They’re a good baseball team. I think we’re going to get ‘em on Monday when we play them again.”
AT BRADFORD
R H E
Johnsonburg 241 000 0 7 8 1
Bradford 030 101 0 5 7 2
Johnny Mitchell (1 SO, 3 BB), Gavin Elmquist (6), Gabe Watts (7), and Steis
Dan Manion (3 SO, 2 BB), Tyler Gigliotti (3) (2 SO, 3 BB), and Caleb Nuzzo
HR: Johnny Mitchell (J)
