Dominant Pitching Carries Broken Arrow to Easy Win

Originally Published: May 12, 2010 7:44 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

BIXBY, Oklahoma – The Broken Arrow baseball team used a dominant performance from starting pitcher Archie Bradley to coast to an 8-1 victory over Putnam City North in the first round of the state playoffs Wednesday.

Bradley had early control issues, but recovered to pitch a gem. He went six innings and gave up just one run on four hits and struck out 12. Early in the game, he was consistently hitting 95 mph on his fastball, and P.C. North never fully caught up to its velocity.

Bradley and Jace James were part of an early pitchers’ duel, but the Tigers broke the game open in the bottom of the third thanks to a slew of unearned runs.

James walked the first batter of the inning, and a second reached on a throwing error. James struck out the next two batters, which should have ended the inning. Instead, it sparked a two-out rally by Broken Arrow.

A wild pitch gave the Tigers – who had not recorded a hit yet – runners on second and third with two outs. Nick Pettus then came through with BA’s first hit of the game, driving in both runners and taking a 2-0 lead.

Pettus advanced to second on an unsuccessful play at the plate, and Tyler McKinzie drove him home with a double in the next at-bat. McKinzie scored on an RBI single to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead, and they just built on their lead from there.

After James put a runner on base by hitting him with a pitch, Dylan Delso took advantage with a two-run home run to right field to give Broken Arrow a 6-0 lead.

The Panthers got on the board in the fifth inning with an RBI double by James, but that was the only extra-base hit P.C. North registered all night and accounted for its only run.

Casey Cadena took over on the mound for James in the bottom of the fifth and had problems with his command. A single, walk, and two wild pitches handed the Tigers one run, and Zach Mills connected on an RBI single to finish the scoring at 8-1.

Broken Arrow will now move on to face Union Thursday.