Senior Dylan Bradford rides fastball to domination with 10K, no-walk run through host South Bend Adams lineup to lead Chesterton to sixth consecutive victory, 13-0

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Rested and armed with knowledge from watching the opponent play its first of back-to-back games, Chesterton senior right-hander Dylan Bradford showed just how dominant he can be Friday night at School Field, the South Bend Adams baseball field.
Bradford’s 10K run through the Eagles lineup lasted all five innings and his four-hit shutout didn’t include a single walk.
Bradford kept it simple, throwing a heavy dose of fastballs to stay ahead in the count and had no trouble tearing through the lineup.
“My big focus has been throwing strikes and that was my strike pitch today,” Bradford said. “I have to keep going with that because walks in the past have been a big issue for me.”
Things didn’t go as well in his previous start, vs. Lafayette Jefferson, but that was to be expected considering he was taking the mound on one day of rest after throwing 70 pitches. This time, he had five days of rest and it showed.
“Oh, yeah,” Coach John Bogner said of the extra rest making him stronger. “Yes. Then it was just a matter of us scoring him some runs to give him some breathing room. They had two or three guys we really had to worry about and then the rest of the guys he just carved up on his own.”
Bradford watched the Eagles lose a makeup game vs. New Prairie, 1-0, right before taking the mound and went to put what he and catcher Caden Hackett had watched.
“We saw that they weren’t the best offensive team,” Bradford said. “So we thought we would attack them with fastballs and if the fastball wasn’t working, we would go with breaking balls. Today the breaking balls weren’t working and we stayed with fastballs.”
A better pitcher when fully rested and having such a wide array of pitches are factors that suit him better to a starting pitcher role than coming out of the bullpen.
“Against Lafayette Jeff I came out with one day’s rest and I could definitely feel it,” Bradford said. I could definitely feel it. Today it was like I was fresh and that was a good change of pace. This was the biggest break of the season for me and it definitely helps.”
Bradford had a strong summer ball season, followed by winter throwing sessions that encouraged the Chesterton coaching staff.
“That’s what I call the end of January, first week of February Dylan we got tonight,” Bogner said. “He was just pumping.”
Bradford drew the attention of Grace College baseball coach Ryan Roth in the summer.
“The catcher on my travel ball team introduced me to him,” Bradford said. “Coach Roth came to a couple of my games and then offered. I always wanted to play college baseball, so that first offer gave me a warm feeling.”
As is so often the case in recruiting, the first offer created a domino effect and Bradford said he received five offers before committing to Grace.
Bradford was generous with sharing credit for his gem.
“I love throwing to Hackett,” he said. “He’s a good catcher. “He makes a lot of balls look like strikes and he’s also really good at calling games. He knows exactly what’s going on with me. Also, (Michael) Szostek. He’s just as good with that.”
The hitters didn’t have any trouble supporting Bradford, scoring in every inning. The mercy rule kicked in when the winless Eagles had their fifth consecutive scoreless inning. The Trojans drew 11 walks, had nine hits. They scored one run in the first, one in the second, four in the third, five in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Ethan Glassman (3 for 3, three doubles) and Nate Redman (2 for 3, two doubles) each drove in three runs and Bradford, Hackett and Rob Czarniecki each drove in a run.
The Trojans (9-3 overall, 4-0 in the DAC) resume their schedule Tuesday at home vs. LaPorte (2-4, 0-4) and visit the Slicers on Wednesday.