Dylan Bradford throws a one-hit shutout, defeats Lake Central 3-0, keeps Trojans undefeated in DAC play and runs team’s winning streak to 10 games

Patrick Mochen
Onwardtrojans.com

Senior Dylan Bradford went up to the mound in the first inning and stayed there for the rest of the game as Chesterton beat Lake Central 3-0. Bradford threw 109 pitches and fired a one-hit shutout. He escaped bouts of wildness, struck out six and walked six.
At the start, Bradford encountered a little trouble and was behind the count but caught fire and was ahead of the count for most of the game.
“It was cold, came out a little bit tight, but got loose as it went on,” Bradford said. “Defense worked, Threw strikes.”
To hear him say it, throwing strikes sounds easy, and he made it look easy throughout the game.
“Today was all about Dylan and credit Dylan and (catcher Caden) Hackett for working together,” third-year Chesterton coach John Bogner said.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, senior Rob Czarniecki started warming up to pitch, but Bradford ended up finishing the seventh inning and completing his shutout.
“I expect it out of myself every time,” Bradford said. “It doesn’t always happen, but you have to expect that. Fastball, curveball, changeup, I have five pitches, but I really relied on those three. I think they had six lefties. I got to use my changeup a lot more than I usually do which got me a lot of weak ground balls. It's rare that my command of that pitch is good enough to use against righties because of how much armside run it has.”
Bradford also credited Hackett for calling the right pitches, saying he only shook him off four times over his 109 pitches. Bradford also got help from the defense. In the top of the first, Hackett caught a runner stealing, throwing a quick and accurate ball to second base. In the second, second baseman Isaiah Prater fielded a ball and flipped it to shortstop Ethan Glassman who hurriedly slung it to first baseman Eli McClelland for the double play. McCleland stretched to scoop up the tough throw and it looked almost too close to call, but the umpire called the runner out.
“Eli had a great defensive game,” Bogner said. “He had a hit. He has been awesomely solid for us.”
McClelland had two runs batted in. Barret had three hits on three plate appearances and two runs. Czarniecki had two hits and one run, and Hackett drove in a run.
“Cold day, nobody likes when it's 40 degrees out but I like how we battled,” Bogner said.