By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ANSONIA — The Bradford High School baseball team continues their hot start to the season with a road conference win at Ansonia High School on April 4, 5-1.

Head coach Bill Sturwold said while the team has been playing well, they are still not close to their full potential. With more games and practices under their belt, they can reach that potential soon.

“I just told the boys, we’re 5-1 and we’re not playing anywhere near where we can be. We’ll get practice in tomorrow and we got a league game Thursday, a double header Saturday. We need to be on the field, we need to play,” Sturwold said.

Bradford scored one run in five of the innings. There were times, like in the first inning, where the Railroaders would have bases loaded. They loaded the bases twice in the first inning, but could only get one run across.

Ansonia junior Treavor Hemmerich started the game and remained poised in those situations. He had eight strikeouts in the game and only allowed three earned runs. He kept the damage at a minimum for his team.

Sturwold said he would like to see the team take advantage of those opportunities where they can score multiple runs in an inning and take control of the game. Hemmerich and junior Nick Burns were able to get strikeouts at the right time. They combined for 11 strikeouts in the game.

“We struck out too many times. We had chances. I would like for us to break a game open and get some subs in. Those kids that don’t play still work hard,” Sturwold said.

Junior Tucker Miller had himself a day. He pitched all seven innings and racked up 14 strikeouts with only two walks. He also went 3-3 at tthe plate with two RBI One run came from a solo home run that went dead center field.

Sturwold said Tucker had a great game and the team played clean defense behind him.

Senior Brendan Baker, sophomore Owen Canan and freshman Colton Gambill each had a RBI.

For Ansonia, senior Gabe Zumbrun drove in the Tigers lone run in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Keegan Weiss had two hits in the game, including a double.

This is the first loss of the season for the Tigers. To Sturwold, Ansonia will bounce back and be a dangerous team when the tournament comes around.

“Ansonia got some nice players. They’re going to win some games. They’re in our sectional so they will be a contender for sure,” Sturwold said.

The Tigers will travel to Twin Valley South on April 6 for another WOAC matchup and then travel to Fort Recovery on April 8. For Bradford, they will host Tri-County North on April 6 and host Houston for a double header on April 8.

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