Bradley Central opened the Joe Adams Memorial-Alzheimer Awareness Classic with an exciting "run-rule" victory but then fell victim as a Tornado blew into the McKenzie Baseball Complex Thursday.
After getting off with Luke Keith grand slam the Bears rolled to a 12-2, six-inning victory over Lincoln County, but things fell apart in miscue-mared 18-7 defeat to McCallie in the nightcap.
Now 2-6 on the season, Bradley will return to action Saturday morning at 11:45 against Soddy-Daisy to wrap up their participation in the special event named for the longtime Bear head coach Joe Adams.
Bradley will play a home-and-home series with McMinn County Monday at the McKenzie Complex and Tuesday in Athens. The Bears will cap the week with a trip across town to battle arch rival Cleveland on Good Friday afternoon at 4.
BEARS 12
FALCONS 2
Bradley seemed to have been sparked by their 4-3 comeback win over Cleveland on Tuesday when it jumped on Lincoln County in its first at bat with the initial three batters reaching base before Keith cleared the deck with a "bomb" over the left-field wall.
After Bryan College commit Josh Leek retired the side in order in the top of the first, the Bears loaded the bases with Lee University commit Alex Brew reaching on a walk and Jaxon Humble following him to first after he was hit by a pitch. Third baseman Shane Bristol beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt to jam the sacks before they all touched home on Keith’s slam.
Leek retired the side in order again in the second before he found trouble in the third with a lead off walk to Ian Weaver, that would eventually lead to the Falcons (2-2) first score.
A walk and hit batsman loaded the bases with two outs before Maddox Meeks plated the first Falcon run with a single to make it 4-1.
The Bears matched the Falcon run in the fourth as Northwestern football commit Tito Williams lined a ringing double to left field and then scored when Brew singled.
Falcon Parker Horton led off the fifth with a walk off Bear reliever and Cleveland State commit Brody Casteel. Horton circled the bases after a Bear fielding error and single by Mick Smith pushed him to third, from where he would then score on a wild pitch making it 5-2.
The Bears added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth as Casteel reached on a walk and scored on a single by Brew, leading to the fateful sixth inning for the Falcons where the Bears put a 5-spot of the board without a hit courtesy of two hit batsmen and six walks.
TORNADO 18
BEARS 7
In a game that saw nine pitchers issuing 23 free passes and fire almost as many wild pitches, McCallie was able to beat the hosts by three field goals and a safety.
Coming off a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Walker Valley to open the event earlier in the afternoon, the Blue Tornado blew down to the southside of town for the 11-run win in their fifth game in four days.
McCallie (8-3) took the diamonds for two more contests after presstime Friday, facing Combine Academy (N.C.) and Lincoln County.
Opening Thursday's nightcap with a three-base error on a short knock back to the pitcher by McCallie leadoff man Noah Wilson proved to be an omen, as he also reached base on a single, a walk and was hit by a pitch, before scoring three times in the contest.
Him coming home on a ground out by Belmont signee Nolan Sargent was the first of the Tornado destruction.
A trio of walks helped McCallie explode for a half dozen runs in its second at bat, with Zach Porter providing the a two-run double to cap the rally.
Bradley got on the board in the bottom of the second when Teigan Cassada sent a two-out, three-run shot over the left-field wall.
The Bears cut the difference to 7-5 in the bottom of the third when Jaden Griffey scored on a wild pitch and Williams stroked a two-out single to plate Keith, who had singled.
The visitors added a solo run in the fourth when Briggs Martin reached on an error and came around to score on a two-out hit by Sargent.
McCallie got a big blast of its own in the top of the fifth when Lee signee Hayden Choate sent a two-run shot over the right field fence.
The Tornado extended the advantage with four runs without benefit of a hit in the top of the sixth, but the Bears did the same for a couple of scores in the bottom of the inning.
McCallie capped the long evening with four more scores in the top of the seventh, highlights by a three-run bomb by Bryce Sanders.
Along with Wilson getting on base each time, Sargent also scored three times after drawing a trio of free passes to go with his RBI-hit.
Porter and Sanders, who camee on to replace him after he was injured trying to stretch his double into a triple, plus Choate all drove in a trio of scores for the victors with Choate being the only Tornado with more than one hit.
Bradley finished with just three hits, but drew a dozen free passes, three of which went to Leek and a pair to Williams, as he also reached base thrice.
