What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after giving up 20 runs in a loss to St. Marys, Bradford rebounded for a gritty 3-0 win over Brookville (3-7) on Tuesday.
After using four pitchers against St. Marys, the Owls (5-6) needed a strong performance from their starting pitcher. Peyton Manion delivered, and then some.
The sophomore went 6 1/3 innings, giving up just four hits and striking out three. Manion didn’t overpower the Brookville hitters with his stuff, rather he threw with solid command and let his teammates record the outs behind him.
“That was our first really quality start of the year,” Bradford coach Andy Carlson said. “Dan (Manion) threw five innings last week but we needed the 6 1/3 we got from Peyton today. He threw strikes and kept them off balance. He let them hit on a day when the wind is blowing and the ball wasn’t going to go very far.”
Bradford pitchers allowed 12 walks to St. Marys on Wednesday, but Manion found the strike zone early and often against Brookville. He allowed just two base on balls, which in turn kept his pitch count down so he could work late into the game.
In the top of the seventh inning, however, Manion got in a bit of a jam. Two Raiders got on base, and with the tying run coming to the plate, Carlson was finally forced to turn to a reliever.
Tyler Gigliotti entered the game and responded promptly, getting the last two outs of the game and sending the Owls to victory — all on just four pitches.
“(Tuesday) we kicked ourselves and beat ourselves,” Carlson said. “Not to take anything away from St. Marys but we gave away some runs. But the best part about baseball is that you can play the next day.”
By no means did the Owls hit the ball all over the field against Brookville on Wednesday, but they did give Manion just enough run support to work with.
Bradford got all three of its runs in the third inning on the backs of some sloppy defense of the Raiders. Brookville committed two errors in the inning, and Bradford scored its first run of the game on a dropped fly ball in right field.
After another error that advanced runners to second and third, Manion stepped up to the plate and ripped a two-run single to centerfield to help his own cause. That proved to be all the scoring the Owls would need.
As good as Manion was for the Owls, the combination of starting pitcher Seth Dunkle and reliever Tanner LaBenne were nearly equal to the task for Brookville. Dunkle was pulled from the game after giving up three unearned runs in that sloppy third inning, but managed to keep the Bradford bats in check in the early innings.
It was LaBenne who shut the door in relief, however, allowing just four baserunners over the final three innings, and giving his team a chance to make a come back.
For Carlson, he admits that it was a bit of an off day at the plate for his team, but thought his guys played a much better all-around game than the day before.
“When you really look at it, we hit the ball harder yesterday than we did today, but we also didn’t let up 20 runs” said Carlson. “We did enough to not beat ourselves and that’s all we needed to do.”
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Owls, which are scheduled to be right back in action today against Otto-Eldred for a non-league game.
And while Bradford has yet to find its groove this season, Carlson is confident that Tuesday’s game is just another example of a team on the brink of a big run heading towards the postseason.
“Baseball is a funny game,” Carlson said. “We have not played well all year long, and everybody knows it, but we are still 5-6. We’re going to keep getting better and I just hope we are one of those dangerous teams here at the end of the year that can start driving the ball and making plays that I know we are capable of doing.”
AT BRADFORD
R H E
Brookville 000 000 0 0 4 3
Bradford 003 000 X 3 4 2
Seth Dunkle (2 SO), Tanner LaBenne (4) (1 SO, 1 BB), and Dane Lyle
Peyton Manion (3 SO, 2 BB), Tyler Gigliotti (7), and Caleb Nuzzo
