Bradley Rallies To Beat Baylor, 5-4

Colby Stott's Sacrifice Fly The Difference In Wildcat Classic

The Bradley Bears normally have a better than average high school baseball team and this year appears to be no different, despite the fact this is the first week of the season.

The Bears run-ruled McMinn County in their first game earlier this week before the Cherokees did the same thing on Tuesday.  But all is not lost as the Bears have now won three straight games, including a 5-4 victory over Baylor at Hixson's John Plumlee Stadium Friday afternoon in the second day of the annual Wildcat Classic.

Bradley got back on track Thursday with shutout wins over Signal Mountain and North Murray before defeating the Red Raiders in eight innings.

Bradley coach Travis Adams, who is the master at playing fundamental baseball where you excel at the little stuff, did it again on Friday.

The Bears only got four hits on the day, which caught Adams somewhat by surprise, but they scored all five of those runs without the benefit of an RBI-hit, including a sacrifice fly by Colby Stott for the game winner in the eighth.

"That was a good one," Adams said shortly after the final out had been recorded.

"We didn't have many hits, but somehow played well enough to win.  We also dodged a few bullets as Baylor really hit some balls hard, but I thought our pitchers did a nice job of controlling their lineup.

"We played good defense with few free passes, but we gave ourselves a chance and we executed at just the right time," the veteran coach added.

Baylor coach Greg Elie knows that Bradley is always fundamentally sound as that's how Adams coaches.  He also knows that the season is still really young and there's plenty of time for his team to work the kinks out.

"It's still early in the year and nobody remembers what you do in March, but we let this one get away as we just didn't keep our foot on the gas," he said after a brief talk with his kids following the game.

"Kudos to coach Adams and Bradley as they played well.  He always does such a great job, but one of the best things about baseball is you get a quick chance at redemption.

"I thought Levi Fraley did a great job as our starting pitcher as he's just a sophomore, but we didn't do much to help him," Elie added.

Jaxon Humble led off the game with a sharp double to left-center before scoring on a groundout by Tyler Cook after advancing on a wild pitch.

That one-run lead didn't last long as Baylor answered with two runs in the bottom of the first on four hits.  Jack Schuman led off with a single and scored on a double by Mac Morris.  He later scored on a grounder to first by Blake Lundy, but that's all that the Red Raiders could get as Bradley starter Drake Allen ended the inning when he got Kilby Hartley on a called third strike.

Bradley regained the lead with two runs in the third.  Carson Stott led off with a single and went to second on a groundout and to third on a wild pitch before knotting the score on a fielder's choice by Jonathan Alomar.

Alomar then stole second before scoring on a Baylor error.

The Bears then went up 4-2 with a single run in the fourth without a hit.  Jadon Griffey led off with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch, to third on a groundout by Stott before scoring on another wild pitch.

Baylor evened the score with two runs in the fourth.  Zach Morrison had a leadoff double before Hartley dropped a perfect bunt to put runners on first and third.  A long fly to right by Camden Cloud drove in the first run while a two-out single by Schuman plated the second to tie the game at 4-4.

Neither team scored in the next three innings before Bradley scored the game-winner in the top of the eighth.

Alomar led off with a walk and went to second on a single by Cook.  Both advanced a base on a nice sacrifice by Spane Bristol for the first out, setting the stage for Stott's sacrifice fly to center.

Cook then retired Baylor in order to get the win after allowing a walk in the seventh in his two innings.

Brody Brooks took the loss after allowing the winning run in two innings.

Schuman, Emerson Morris and Morrison all had two hits for Baylor while Humble, Cook, Bristol and Stott all had one each for the Bears.

Baylor played Signal Mountain in the second game of the day at Hixson while Bradley went to Central for a later game with Grundy County.
-(GAME TWO Baylor wins 11-10)

Story by John Hunt (Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Bradley Rallies To Beat Baylor, 5-4 - Chattanoogan.com

#WeAreBaylor