PUNXSUTAWNEY — Things weren’t looking good for the Bradford baseball team on Monday. As late as the sixth inning, the Owls trailed perennial D-9 power Punxsutawney 8-0.
But coach Andy Carlson’s squad dug deep and pounded the Chucks’ bullpen for 11 runs over the final two innings to notch a huge 11-10, come-from-behind victory.
“They’re one of the better teams; they’re the class of the league,” Carlson said about Punxsy, who, until last season, had won 13 straight district titles. “It didn’t look good for a while. But today was a testament to how good we can be.”
After being held scoreless through the first five frames, Caleb Nuzzo finally got the bats going with a bases-clearing double to get the Owls on the board.
“That kind of broke it open and got us going,” Carlson said of Nuzzo’s hit. “It was a huge thing because we haven’t had many hits with runners in scoring position.”
With the deficit down to 8-5 heading into the final inning, Bradford managed to load the bases again. Tyler Gigliotti earned an RBI on a hit by pitch to cut it to 8-6. Then it was Nuzzo who once again came up big, clearing the bases once again to give Bradford its first lead of the game.
The Owls added a pair of important insurance runs on a two-run double by Peyton Manion. The Chucks were able to score two more of their own in the bottom half. But ultimately the late rally fell short.
Nuzzo led the way with a game-high 6 RBI, with Peyton Manion adding two of his own. Dan Manion (two doubles, RBI single) and Patrick Caskey (three singles) also had big days at the plate for Bradford.
Gigliotti, meanwhile, did yeoman’s work out of the bullpen after coming in during the third inning and was able to finish the game to earn the win.
For Punxsutawney (1-5), Tyler Richardson notched three doubles, while Brandon Matthews, Logan Johnston, Derek Huey, and Andrew Britton all had multiple base hits.
“It was a great team win,” Carlson said. “It’s a lot of fun winning baseball games against really good teams, and we hope to continue that trend.”
The Owls (3-3) will be back home this afternoon against DuBois Central Catholic.
AT PUNXSUTAWNEY
R H E
Bradford 000 005 6 11 12 2
Punxsy 005 030 2 10 14 1
Adam Boyer (2 SO, 5 BB), Tyler Gigliotti (3) (2 SO), and Caleb Nuzzo
Logan Johnston (5 SO, 3 BB), Isaac Stauffer (5) (3 SO, 1 BB), Tyler Richardson (6) (2 SO, 1 BB), Darren Byers (7) (2 BB), Brandon Matthews (7), and Adison Neal
Port Allegany 14, Galeton 4, 5 innings
PORT ALLEGANY — The Gators scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back, finishing Galeton off in five innings on Monday for their first win of the season.
“It’s always good to get into the right column,” Port A coach Nate Zitnik said. “We’ve played well and had some good outings. It was nice to have a decent outing today and come out on the good side of things.”
Tyler Lashway led the way at the plate, notching four hits including a double and 2 RBI.
Jake Anderson, Montgomery Tanner, Drew Benson, and Josh Rees also recorded doubles for Port Allegany.
The pitching committee of Rees, David Talkington, Gage Smoker, Carter Moses, and Tanner combined for eight strikeouts, three walks and 11 hits.
Seth Succowich went 3-for-3 at the plate for Galeton (0-4), while he and Jake Cochran combined for two strikeouts, six walks, and 20 hits allowed on the mound.
Port Allegany (1-4) will travel to Cowanesque Valley this afternoon.
AT PORT ALLEGANY
R H E
Galeton 000 04 4 11 3
Port Allegany 522 32 14 20 4
Jake Cochran (2 SO, 4 BB), Seth Succowich (4) (2 BB), and Hunter Crowell
Josh Rees (2 SO), David Talkington (2) (3 SO), Gage Smoker (3) (2 SO, 2 BB), Carter Moses (4) (1 BB), Montgomery Tanner (5) (1 SO), and Trey Ayers
Kane 9, Smethport 6
KANE — Three Kane pitchers combined to strike out 16 Hubber batters to send the Wolves to 2-1 on the season.
Austin Jordan was the winning pitcher for Kane, striking out 10 batters and allowing just one earned run in nearly five innings of work.
Zachary Duck and Ethan Anderson had two RBI each for the Wolves and Kane scored all nine of its runs in the first two innings of the game. The Wolves were also aided by four Smethport fielding errors, and Kane scored four unearned runs in the game.
Smethport, which had been shut out in their first two games of the season, were able to get the bats going against Kane. Blake Kinner led the offense for Smethport with a double and two RBI, and Matt Stratton added two hits of his own.
The loss drops the Hubbers to 0-3 on the season. Smethport hosts Otto-Eldred on Wednesday as part of a five-game slate this week.
AT KANE
R H E
Smethport 110 202 0 6 6 4
Kane 450 000 X 9 7 2
Grant Ognen (2 SO, 3 BB), Orion Alexis (2) (3 SO, 3 BB), Matt Stratton (4) (2 SO), and Nate Hollowell
Austin Jordan (10 SO, 3 BB), Cy Novosel (5) (3 SO), Devin Young (6) (3 SO), and Bobby Rumcik
