By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — The Franklin Monroe baseball team snaps Bradford’s five game winning streak with a 7-5 home conference win on April 11.

Franklin Monroe head coach Tyler Zimmerman said he was impressed with how good Bradford has been playing so far. He challenged his team to defend their home field, and they rose to the occasion.

“I was really hoping we would step and play well and I couldn’t ask for more. Our boys played a really hard game today and went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the conference and came out with a victory. Can’t beat that,” Zimmerman said.

For Bradford, they were sluggish. Head coach Bill Sturwold said the team needed to make a few more plays to give themselves a better chance at the win. The Railroaders just didn’t play up to their standard.

“We didn’t play well. We didn’t overcome some things that we should have. Effort wasn’t there on a few plays and that’s unacceptable,” Sturwold said.

Bradford took the lead in the first inning on an errand throw to third base. Junior Tucker Miller scored to make it a 1-0 game.

Franklin Monroe responded in the bottom of the first with two runs to take the lead. Senior Cason Yount started the inning off with a double. Senior Cade Peters drove him in on a RBI double. Sophomore Josh Armstrong drove Peters in on a RBI single.

The Railroaders responded with two runs of their own with a two-run hit by Miller. The Jets then took the lead in the third inning and never gave it up.

It was almost a copy of the first inning for Franklin Monroe. Yount got on base again with Peters getting him home. Armstrong drove in Peters again to take a 4-3 lead. This time, sophomore Matthew Hurley got in on the action and drove in a run to make it a 5-3 game.

Zimmerman said the top of the order has been the offensive spark plug for them. It all starts with Yount in the lead-off spot and they go from there.

“I tell Cason before every game, ‘You go, we go’. What I mean by that is he gets on, we’re going to follow behind him. That’s been rung true so far. As long as he can keep getting on base at the top of the order, we like our chances to be able to score runs,” Zimmerman said.

Miller drove in another run for Bradford in the fifth inning. They were threatening to take a lead during the inning, but Peters on the mound held them off to maintain a 5-4 lead.

Franklin Monroe walked in two more runs in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead. Those runs became important as Bradford started a two-out rally in the seventh inning.

Junior Garrett Trevino hit a triple with two outs. Freshman Colton Gambill drove in him to make it a 7-5 game.

That would end the day for Peters, who went 6.2 innings in the game and had seven strikeouts. Zimmerman said Peters executed the game plan to limit the dangerous Bradford lineup.

He also said it was the best game in Peters career. On top of his pitching performance, he had two doubles and the two RBI. Zimmerman said he couldn’t be happier to see Peters play at this high of a level after seeing the work he put in during the winter.

Armstrong came in and got the final out with a strikeout.

The Jets were able to make a few more plays than the Railroaders to get the win. Sturwold said while a few plays didn’t go their way, they needed to play better in a close game. Sturwold also said the Jets played great and deserved the win.

“They played well. They had good at bats. They were clean, they maybe had one or two errors. Franklin Monroe deserved to win tonight,” Sturwold said.

Junior Landon Wills started the game for Bradford and went 4.2 innings and had six strikeouts. Miller came in for the rest of the game and got two strikeouts.

Bradford is now 9-2 (3-1) and will travel to Preble Shawnee on April 13 for a conference game. Franklin Monroe is now 5-2 (2-2) and will host Tri-County North on April 13 for a conference game. Both games are set for a 5 p.m. start.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]