Lake Braddock Baseball Cruises to 10-2 Victory at West Springfield

Tensions were high on Friday at West Springfield as senior starting pitcher Michael Church kept the damage to a minimum and allowed the Lake Braddock Bruins to take a 10-2 victory.

The home plate umpire warned both sides after words were exchanged between Bruin sophomore catcher Garrett Driscoll and senior Spartan catcher David Pyon. The warning came after Driscoll was hit by a pitch for the second time and senior Andrew Weidinger was nearly hit when squaring to bunt.

“He said ‘get walking boy!’ after I got hit,” said Driscoll. “That wasn’t too good for me. I have to stick up for myself.”

“I thought he threw at our guy, and I’m going to protect our guys,” said Bruin coach Jody Rutherford. “That was my evaluation and I don’t think there is any place in the game for that.”

Church pitched six strong innings striking out 3 and only allowing 2 hits and 1 unearned run.

“[Church] pitched very well tonight,” said Rutherford. “He kept us in the game.”

The game was scoreless through four innings until the Bruins rallied for five runs in the fifth. The Bruins sent 8 batters to the plate and capped off the inning by deploying the delayed steal allowing Weidinger to score from third.

Weidinger came up big for the Bruins in the seventh inning with a 3-run single, which was part of another five-run inning.

“It felt good,” said the senior who admitted to being in a slump. “It felt good to get out of it, especially tonight.”

Spartan starter, senior Trevor Snook, went 4.2 innings and allowed 2 runs. He pitched out of a couple jams early in the game without allowing runs, but driving his pitch count up.

Snook also had an RBI in the seventh when he hit a laser of Bruin closer Kenny Towns, allowing junior Donny Haeuptle to tag up and score from third. The run was unearned, however, as Haeuptle reached on an error.

The West Springfield and Lake Braddock rivalry always makes for intense matchups and the players look forward to games like Friday’s all year.

“It feels good to go 2-0 against West Springfield this year,” said Driscoll. “It’s a good rivalry and it is always a good game.”