Bears blast into Pounder semis

This past week will be one to remember in Travis Adams’ first year as Bradley Central’s baseball coach. There were back-to-back wins over intown and District 5-AAA rival Cleveland, a 5-0 record and a three-game stretch in Central’s Pounder Invitational in which his Bears scored 41 runs.

The Bears averaged 13.6 runs in reaching today’s Pounder semifinals, where they’ll face Cleveland again at 1 p.m. at Central. The semifinal at Hixson will feature the host Wildcats against Greenville (S.C.) High, which won its division with a Saturday victory over Cleveland.

The championship game will begin at 4 at Central. Hixson finished second in its pool with a 2-1 record, its only loss coming by a run to Bradley.

“We haven’t changed anything. We have stayed with the same approach,” Adams said after Saturday’s 13-1 division-clinching win over Ooltewah. “Balls are just falling in.”

The Bears won 19-2 over Soddy-Daisy late Friday.

Seven of the nine Bradley starters contributed at the plate against Ooltewah, led by Timmy Linn’s solo home run in the fifth and two hits each from Ryan Casteel, Zach Roberts, Taylor Bryant and Hogan Scoggins. No. 3 batter Casteel had four RBIs. The versatile Scoggins, who has played second, catcher, outfield and third during the tournament, added two runs with a seventh-inning single as the Bears batted around.

The way Cory Cabrera was pitching, Bradley put the game away with a two-run first inning and a three-run third, when the Bears got four hits and took full advantage of three errors by the Owls.

“When you’re playing teams like Soddy-Daisy and Ooltewah, you go in expecting a dogfight,” said Adams, whose team will play bunt-and-run pressure baseball with the best. “You figure you’re going to scratch for every run, but the game dictates how you play. The guys were playing loose, and we play better when we play loose.”

They were loose Friday and Saturday, banging out a combined 29 hits.

It was the kind of support any pitcher throwing his first big game would like. In his first varsity start, Cabrera used his curveball to limit Ooltewah to three hits. Except for his two errors, he kept the Owls’ top three hitters off base, limiting the damage No. 4 hitter Zach Smith’s two singles could do.

Ooltewah’s only other hit was a double from slick-fielding sophomore shortstop Zach Zarzour.

“Cabrera did a great job in his first time out in a varsity game,” Adams said. “He was throwing his curve for strikes.”

Bradley sophomore Cole Brand had pitched a one-hitter Tuesday in his first varsity game.

“With Taylor having a little arm trouble, we look a little better with our one and two pitchers,” Adams said. “The three, four and five guys, all we’re asking them to do is throw strikes.”