They won’t meet when it real counts — the District 5-AAA games — until the end of the month.
However, the Cleveland High School baseball team can crow for the next three weeks after hanging a 19-8 decision on rival Bradley Central.
The victory Saturday evening also gave Cleveland the Central Invitational championship. That it came over the defending champion Bears made it that much sweeter.
Never mind that the two used 11 pitchers in the six-inning game, or that each club’s aces were playing other than on the mound because of district games Monday and Tuesday.
Cleveland coach Ted Carson has learned over his nine-plus years as head coach what tournament games mean in the long haul.
“At this point in a tournament, anything can happen and you’re not seeing a lot of experienced pitching. We were hitting the ball, and they helped us out some,” he said.
The Blue Raiders finished with 11 hits including two home runs by Derek Shugart and a solo shot by Jesse Jones, but Carson’s pitchers limited the Bears to four hits. And while the Raiders had just one error, Bradley had four.
“Derek has been hitting all along, but he hit very well in this tournament,” Carson said.
Shugart, who had been sidelined with a pulled quadriceps muscle, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Jones had three hits in five at-bats and knocked in four runs, one with a double in the top of the sixth that gave Cleveland a 10-run spread. He then scored the 19th run. The Blue Raiders batted around in the sixth, scoring nine runs.
Jeb Scoggins was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Cody Clanton added a two-run double.
“The bats really came alive in this tournament,” Carson said.
While he employed four pitchers, he also believed he may have found another who can help down the road. Caleb Hiddleson, normally the Raiders’ catcher, came in to pitch long enough to pick up the win. Their pitching order was freshman, junior, Hiddleson (a sophomore) and a junior (Derek Murray) who closed out the game.
“This was the third game in his life that he’s pitched, but I believe we may have found somebody else who’ll be pitching,” Carson said. “And then Derek came in and threw strikes.”
Cody Ward was the only Bear with two hits, getting a run-scoring single as Bradley forged a 6-0 lead and then collecting an RBI triple in the fourth.