Telegraph Staff Writer
Host Suwannee plated 13 runs in the third inning en route to handing the Bradford High School baseball team a 14-2 loss in the teams’ regular-season opener on Feb. 20.
The Tornadoes were held to four hits, with Kacen Thomassen going 2 for 4.
Bradford actually took the lead when Luke Stucky hit a double in the top of the third. The hit scored Jeffrey Brugh, while Stucky was able to advance along the basepaths and score on the throw. That put the Tornadoes up 2-1 before Suwannee exploded for 11 hits in the bottom of the inning, which included a three-run homer and a two-run double.
The Tornadoes were coming off an 0-2 outing in a preseason tournament hosted by Baker County, but one of the losses was by just two runs.
Thomassen had the Tornadoes’ only hit in a 10-0 loss to Fernadina Beach on Feb. 13. Bradford then played University Christian on Feb. 14, building a 6-1 lead in the top of the fifth before losing 9-7.
Ryland Rike led off Bradford’s half of the fifth with a single and scored on a wild pitch. Stucky, who singled, scored on a Thomassen single. Mattox Burgin drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Hayden Hughes, who was a courtesy runner for Thomassen. The inning’s fourth run came on a Blake Wynn single, which scored Kevin Crawford and put Bradford ahead by five runs.
University scored eight runs in the bottom of the fifth, with five coming on two triples.
Rike finished 3 for 4 with a double, while C.J. McKinney was 2 for 3 with an RBI. Stucky and Thomassen each went 2 for 4, with Thomassen driving in one run.
Burgin and Wynn each finished with one RBI.
The Tornadoes travel to play Middleburg on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. and will host Keystone Heights on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. Bradford travels to play Madison County on Monday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m. and then travels to play Baker County on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.
