It wasn’t the prettiest way to break out of a scoring slump, but the Bradford Owls will take any offense they can get right now.

After falling behind early, the Owls rallied to beat Otto-Eldred 6-2 to pick up a critical win on Tuesday afternoon at Callahan Park.

Both teams were fighting for their playoff lives in this game, and it showed early. The game was tight and remained scoreless until the third inning. The Terrors scored two in the top of that frame to take an early lead.

However, everything that could’ve possibly went wrong for Otto in the bottom half of that inning, did. After the first two Bradford hitters reached on a single and a walk, the Terrors started to beat themselves.

Bradford (9-9) got its first run of the game on a balk, and tied up the scoring when a throw by Otto’s catcher sailed into the outfield on an attempted steal. Isaac Gralak then added a two-run single later in the inning to double the Owls’ lead. All told, O-E committed three errors in a four-run inning for Bradford.

“Just any runs are great when you go two straight without scoring any,” Bradford head coach Andy Carlson said. “We had a guy (Smith) get his first high school hit today and drove a ball in that (third inning) to get the rally started. It was very nice to get going a little bit.”

That run scored on the balk in the third inning was Bradford’s first trip across the plate since last Wednesday against Port Allegany. The Owls were shut out 12-0 to St. Marys last Friday and were also blanked by Elk County Catholic on Monday. On the season, the Owls have been shut out four times.

Despite the six runs, the Owls could only manage four hits on the day and were in need of another solid pitching performance. And they got it.

Dan Manion threw three innings in his start, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks. Although it wasn’t the most efficient performance, Carlson is proud of his senior for fighting through injuries this season.

“Dan has been battling all year,” Carlson said of his pitcher who is committed to play baseball for St. Bonaventure next year. “He’s not right. He knows it, everybody knows it, but he gives us the innings we need and he gave us a chance today.”

After Manion was pulled following the third inning, Carlson turned to Tyler Gigliotti. Gigliotti has given the Owls plenty of quality appearances this year, and delivered another on Tuesday.

The sophomore threw four shutout innings to protect the lead, allowing just one hit and three walks while striking out four. For a young player that is much more used to his positions in the outfield and at third base, Carlson couldn’t be happier with how one of his underclassmen is developing on the mound.

“(Gigliotti) came in and threw strikes for the most part. They had some contact against him but he is just very efficient,” Carlson said. “When he throws strikes he has a chance to be real good. He has a ways to come as a pitcher. I don’t think that he would lie to anybody and say that he is a pitcher, he’s a position player but he’s doing a lot of good things for us.”

After two singles in the third inning, O-E didn’t have another hit until a double in the seventh. Not only did lack of defense and hitting from the Terrors waste a strong pitching performance from Cole Sebastian (complete game, two earned runs, six strikeouts), but it also ended the Terrors’ quest for the postseason. The loss dropped Otto to 6-9 on the season with just a game remaining.

With Gigliotti dealing on the mound, the Owls were able to tack on a few insurance runs in the later innings. Bradford scored another run via an errant throw on an attempted steal in the fifth and then added its final run on a groundout in the sixth. Again, it wasn’t an attractive box score on the hitting side, but the notch in the win column is really what the Owls needed.

Tuesday’s win over Otto secured a berth in district playoffs beginning next week. The Owls have two regular season games remaining this week: this afternoon against Punxsutawney (9-6) for senior day, and on Thursday against Johnsonburg (11-3) before the playoffs begin.

Carlson is keenly aware that his squad isn’t going to scare many teams heading into the postseason, but also cautions that things can change very quickly.

“Our hitting is in there, there’s no doubt it is,” he said. “Baseball is a game of runs. I just hope that our run right now is that we’re real cold and then we start coming out of it in the next couple of days and then we go next week and surprise some people.”

The Owls upset top-seeded St. Marys in the first round of last year’s Class AAAA playoffs to reach the championship game.

“We did it last year, so why can’t we do it again?”

AT BRADFORD

   R H E

Otto-Eldred 002 000 0   2 4 5

Bradford      004 011 0 6 4 1

Chase Sebastian (7 SO, 4 BB), and Cole Sebastian

Dan Manion (3 SO, 3 BB), Tyler Gigliotti (4) (4 K, 3 BB), and Caleb Nuzzo