Bradley Central came into Wednesday’s high school baseball doubleheader at Soddy-Daisy knowing it needed to win one game to be the top-seeded team for the District 5-AAA tournament it will host starting next Wednesday. And right-handed pitcher Andy Bunch saw to it that the Bears did that.
After the Trojans won the first game 9-3, Bunch responded with a three-hitter in which he seemed to get stronger as the night wore on in a 5-0 victory for Bradley.
The fourth- and seventh-seeded teams in the district will play a single-elimination game to start the tournament, as will the fifth and sixth seeds. The winners will meet, and then that winner will take on Bradley (19-10) in a best-of-three series. Third-seeded Soddy-Daisy (19-11) will play second-seeded Walker Valley in a best-of-three.
The hits Bunch allowed were all singles – one in the second inning and two in the third. He retired the last 14 batters he faced, including striking out eight consecutive in that stretch.
“Andy Bunch was the difference,” Bradley coach Travis Adams said. “He sat down like 14 straight at one point. There’s your ballgame. We scored a couple right there early, and from there on we added one here and there. But Andy Bunch was the ballgame. That really was one for the scrapbook.”