BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Three pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout for the Keystone Heights High School baseball team, which defeated host Bradford 8-0 on April 16.
Brady Kerlin got the start for the Indians (15-6), giving up five hits and two walks, while striking out six in five innings.
Ben Goforth threw the sixth inning and recorded one out in the seventh, allowing one hit and one walk, while striking out one.
Connor Guy faced the final two batters, striking both out.
Bradford (7-11) left three runners stranded on third and eight stranded in scoring position overall.
The Indians scored all the runs they’d need in a two-run second. Austin Smith and Aiden Screen hit back-to-back doubles, with Smith scoring on Screen’s hit. Tallon Campbell then hit a run-scoring single.
It was a 3-0 game when Keystone scored three runs in the fifth. Guy, who went 2 for 4, singled and eventually scored on a steal of home, while Austin Musgrove, who walked, would score on a passed ball. Screen walked and scored on a wild pitch.
Musgrove hit a two-run homer in the seventh and finished with two RBI.
Campbell, Screen and Ty Mitzel each had one RBI.
Denver Hudson and Ryland Rike had all but one of the Tornadoes’ six hits. Hudson went 2 for 2, while Rike was 3 for 4.
Bradford’s other hit was a double by Ryder Thompson.
Keystone travels to play Santa Fe on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. and returns home to play Tocoi Creek on Monday, April 22, at 6:30 p.m. and Middleburg on Tuesday, April 23, at 7 p.m.
The Tornadoes travel to play P.K. Yonge on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. and host Hamilton County on Friday, April 19, at 7 p.m. Bradford travels to play Union County on Tuesday, April 23, at 6 p.m.
