SALAMANCA, N.Y. — After an early outburst, Bradford’s offense went cold.

Not that it would matter.

A five-run second inning provided all the offense the Owls needed Friday, as Nolan Ruolo and Cam Austin combined to no-hit Salamanca in a 5-4 victory across the New York border.

Ruolo kept the Warriors off balance for the better part of six innings, and even though walks and errors brought Salamanca closer on the scoreboard, its offense hardly threatened. Austin followed Ruolo by retiring all four batters he faced, closing the door on the Warriors and picking up a save.

“It’s not often you see a no-hitter with four runs given up,” Bradford coach Eric Haynoski said. “A couple walks and some sloppy play on defense, but other than that, I think we played a pretty clean game. Ruolo pitched one heck of a game.”

Bradford was aggressive at the plate in the game’s early innings. The Owls left the bases loaded in the first, but took advantage of opportunities provided in the second.

Calyb Geist started the Owl rally with a single, and after Ryan Ward reached on a walk and Ashton Smith was hit by a pitch, Mike Gow followed with a two-run single for the game’s first runs. Ruolo then ripped a two-run double that hopped the outfield fence after taking a bounce in left-center field gap.

Austin followed with an RBI single, giving the Owls a sizable lead.

“We came out hot and our bats just kind of cooled down after that,” Haynoski said. “The same three we’ve been relying on for our offense did it again today.”

Ruolo took it from there, retiring 16 of the first 17 batters he faced. Before pitching into trouble in the 6th, his only blemish was a walk that, after an errant throw-over to first, a passed ball and a wild pitch, turned into a run.

In 5.2 innings, Ruolo struck out three while walking four, repeatedly inducing weak contact in an 81-pitch gem.

“(Ruolo) was hitting spots all day long,” Haynoski said. “He was keeping them off-balance with his curveball — it had a lot of snap on the end, and they struggled with that. The middle of their lineup is really strong, and he was able to hit spots and force them to hit his pitches.”

A one-out walk to Cory Holleran preceded an infield error by the Owls in the 6th inning. Harley Hoag then walked to load the bases, setting up a sacrifice fly by Jaxson Ross.

As Jacob Herrick crossed the plate to score Salamanca’s third run, Bradford’s relay throw soared to the backstop, allowing Hoag to sprint home. Hayden Hoag then walked, prompting Haynoski to summon his bullpen.

Austin came in and forced a groundout to escape further trouble. He followed with a dominant 7th, forcing a flyout and a pair of pop-ups. Austin was also the only player to record multiple hits in the game, finishing 2-for-4 at the plate with a stolen base.

“That’s kind of what I expect out of Cam,” Haynoski said. “He’s calm out there, collected and is a pressure pitcher. It doesn’t phase him.”

After falling behind late, Salamanca’s relief pitching kept it in the game, as Bradford mustered just one base runner in its final four turns at-bat. Holleran and Harley Hoag combined for 5.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out four batters while walking two.

“Our pitching was phenomenal,” Salamanca coach Greg Herrick said. “We wanted to use a few guys. We haven’t had many games, so we wanted to see what we had going forward. Our starter should have had two innings with no runs and we just didn’t field the ball the right way. We need to clean up the defense, but I thought all three guys came in and threw really well.”

Salamanca will look to improve its offense as the season unfolds, but Coach Herrick was pleased with his defense up the middle, as Harley Hoag and Jacob Herrick patrolled the middle infield with ease.

“We’ve had inconsistent at-bats this year, sometimes taking too many pitches and not being ready to hit,” Greg Herrick said. “We need to get better at pitch recognition and strike recognition, but those are things I would expect early in the season, so we’ll attack those weaknesses and get better.”

Bradford improved to 2-1, shaking off a lopsided loss at DuBois two days prior. Friday’s victory, Haynoski said, brought memories of the team’s season-opening victory against Brockway, which required a 7th-inning rally.

“It was the same thing — we need to keep learning how to finish games,” Haynoski said. “We get to the middle of the game and we just kind of take it easy; we need to learn on the gas pedal and put it away.”

Salamanca, meanwhile, fell to 1-1.

“(Bradford) is a really good, balanced team,” Greg Herrick said. “We saw good pitching today and they took care of the baseball. Playing teams like that is going to help us come playoff time.”

AT SALAMANCA (N.Y.)

R H E

Bradford 050 000 0 5 5 3

Salamanca 010 003 0 4 0 2

Bradford: Nolan Ruolo (3 SO, 4 BB), Cam Austin (6) (0 SO, 0 BB) and Brett Skaggs

Salamanca: Jason McGraw (1 SO, 2 BB), Cory Holleran (2) (3 SO, 1 BB), Harley Hoag (6) (1 SO, 1 BB) and Shawn Bacelli