Bruins take down Blue Sox to stay undefeated

By Dean Barker
The defending RCBL champion Broadway Bruins stayed undefeated with a 5-1 victory at the Elkton Blue Sox on Saturday, June 12. With the win, the Bruins improved to 3-0, while the Blue Sox fell to 0-3.

Wyatt Emswiler picked up the win for the Bruins with two strikeouts and one earned run in four innings pitched. Elliot Erkel was the losing pitcher, being responsible for five runs, seven walks and three hit batters in six innings, despite only giving up two hits. Bruins head coach Chip Abernathy was happy to see his starter get the job done.

“He (Emswiler) doesn’t try to overpower you, he tries to keep the ball moving around the strike zone,” Abernathy told RCBL’s Dean Barker. “He does a great job, he’s hard to hit.”

The teams traded runs in the first inning, with a RBI single from Trent Abernathy being matched in the bottom half by an RBI double from Cam Shields. The Bruins, however, kept punching, as Trevor Thomas’s RBI double in the 2nd and Bryce Turner’s sacrifice groundout in the 3rd made the score 3-1 Broadway. For the next five innings, the Blue Sox would only put two runners on, both of whom would be retired in double plays.

Following four quiet innings, the Bruins got some insurance runs in the eighth. After Blue Sox reliever Alex Mann hit Jett Shve and gave up a single to Cadlee Jarvis, Will Craig came in to try and escape the jam. A sac bunt from Justin Lohr gave Elkton one out, but a wild throw from third baseman Jeremy Kwolek brought home two runs for Broadway. The Blue Sox would put two more runners in scoring position, but could not bring either of them home, as they fell 5-1.

Broadway managed to pick up the win despite leaving 12 runners on base, while the Blue Sox stranded five runners. Had those five runners scored, it would’ve given Elkton the win.

Perhaps the strangest statistic for the night was hits. Broadway managed to get five runs off of just four hits, while Elkton had seven hits, but could only bring home one run. Coach Abernathy was pleased that his club was able to score on an otherwise quiet night.

“It wasn’t a great night swinging the bat, but you put it in play, somebody’s gotta field it, somebody’s gotta throw it,” Abernathy said. Of the five runs scored by Broadway, only two came off of hits; one run came from a sacrifice groundout, and two others came on an error.

While the Bruins are undefeated in their quest to defend their title so far, Abernathy doesn’t want to focus too much on his team’s record as they look ahead to Montezuma tonight.
“I’m not worried about (being) undefeated, I’m just worried about if we play well… get (our pitchers) in the game, move them through… hopefully, you know, score some runs, play some defense,” Abernathy said. Abernathy also pointed out that only five players returned from last year’s team.

After three road games, the Bruins will host their home opener tonight at 6:30 pm against the Montezuma Braves. The Blue Sox will hope to pick up their first win on Tuesday, June 15 when they host the Bridgewater Reds at 7:30 pm. 

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