Playing their third game in as many days, the Bradford baseball team suffered from attrition as they were blown out by Punxsutawney, 14-1, in six innings.

After an up-and-down start of the week that saw the Owls win on Monday and lose on Tuesday, their third challenger would be the most formidable. The Chucks, who reached the PIAA State tournament semifinals a season ago, came into Wednesday’s matchup having lost only two games this year, sitting at 12-2. A large portion of their success can be attributed to their leading two men on the mound, Parker Stahlman and Nevin Day, who have a 0.36 and 0.98 earned run average and can both throw over 90 miles an hour.

“They’re a well-coached team top to bottom. They take a lot of pride in their program starting at the younger levels, their Little League levels and travel ball and they’re coached hard all the way up through,” said Bradford head coach Eric Haynoski. “When they get to this level, they’re well disciplined and ready to go.”

The Owls showed their resilience early on. Through two Punxsy batters, Bradford collected two outs and kept the Chucks stranded on second and third later in the frame. However, facing Punxsy’s ace, Coy Martino, the Owls couldn’t counter with anything at the plate. The deadlock would stand for the first two frames, with each team sending three up and three down.

Things would change in the third. After two eventless innings, Punxsy came out with a renewed focus on aggressiveness. After Maddox Hetrick reached first off a single, he would steal second before getting to third on a wild pitch. Next, Cooper Hallman got on base from a walk and also successfully stole his way to second. Both were brought in from a subsequent double from Nevin Day, scoring the first two runs of the day.

Even with two outs, Punxsy would continue to pressure the Owls with steals into scoring position. Altogether, the Chucks would take five bases through the third inning. They would earn two more runs with a double from Luke Miller before Bradford finally stopped the bleeding.

“We knew they were going to be aggressive. They always are,” said Haynoski. “Our catcher threw yesterday so his arm was hanging a little bit so I’ll give him a little pass on that. Usually his arm’s a lot quicker and a lot more lively. But, this being our third game in a row, we have a lot of arms hanging.”

Over the next two frames, the Owls would begin to garner some momentum by getting a couple of men on base. At the same time, they would return to keeping the Chucks at bay and scoreless. Their tourniquet would only hold for so long, as Punxsy would finish out the game on a hot streak.

In the top of the fifth, Punxsy would load the bases in their first four batters. Then a Day single would drive in a pair of runs, putting them up 6-0. This is where Bradford would begin to break down. A walk on the following at-bat would reload the bases while two more would send in a pair of Chucks, increasing the deficit to eight. A wild pitch would drive in the ninth run of the day before the Owls’ would finally get the third out.

Bradford’s accumulating but overshadowed momentum would come to a head in the bottom of the same frame. Mitch Brinksy and Derek Lyons would both get on base from a well-placed bunt and a single, with Brinksy reaching third off a steal. AJ Lama would drive in the lone-run of the day with an RBI-single but the Owls’ remaining baserunners would be left stranded with consecutive strikeouts.

Putting the finishing touches on an already out of reach game, Punxsy took advantage of a deflated Bradford squad by cranking hit after hit in the top of the sixth. Coupled with the mounting Owls’ errors, the Chucks would add on five more runs. At the plate, Bradford would go three and out, capping off their most lop-sided loss of the season.

Lama and Brinksy would both end 1-for-2, with Brinsky tallying one run and Lama earning the RBI. Wyatt Stark, Lyons, Liam Haven and Talan Reese would all record one hit throughout the loss.

“We hung with them for three and a half innings there and then the floodgates opened up. A couple walks, a couple miscues,” said Haynoski. “We just have to play clean baseball top to bottom all the way through the entire game when you’re playing against teams like this and I don’t think we did.”

PNX:

BRD: Haviland (1 SO, 3 BB), Tar. Reese (3) (2 SO, 3 BB), Haven (4) (1 SO, 3 BB), Whitmore (5) (1 SO, 0 BB) and Lama