ARLINGTON — The Arlington High School boys baseball team may not have Cy Young on its roster, but relief pitcher Cy Bradley performed his best imitation Thursday to lead the Eagles to a 3-0 victory over Shorewood in a Class 3A District 1 loser-out playoff game.
People often ask Bradley if he’s named after former Major League Baseball pitcher Cy Young, a 511-game winner whose name appears on the annual MLB award for the top pitchers in the American and National Leagues. Instead, he said he’s named after a great, great grandfather.
Entering the game earlier than expected, Bradley lived up to his non-relative’s name. The sophomore warmed up quickly, and he used pinpoint location to stymie Shorewood, holding the Stormrays hitless over the final 4 2/3 innings.
“I don’t tend to have a lot of nerves,” Bradley said. “I just try to trust my stuff when I’m going in there.”
Camden Knudson went 1-for-1 with two walks for Arlington, which improved to 11-10 and will face top-seeded Mount Vernon in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mount Vernon High School.
The loss ended a difficult season for the Stormrays (12-10). Legendary coach Wyatt Tonkin passed away earlier in the season. Before Thursday’s loss, Shorewood had won six of seven games after a rough start. Kanata Barber and Fin Liekkio had the only hits for the Stormrays.
Eagles starting pitcher Eli Jones — who is also the team’s third batter in the order — tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings before a shoulder injury forced him from the game. Arlington coach Scott Striegel turned to his young reliever, and Bradley coaxed a number of routine ground balls and pop ups. The rare hard-hit balls found Arlington fielders, who played a strong defensive game.
“He got loose real quick, and then just came in and threw strikes,” Striegel said. “(He) forced them to put the ball in play. You’re going to to win a lot of games if you if you don’t walk guys.”
Though the Eagles managed just three hits, they made just enough contact to take advantage of nine bases on balls issued by Shorewood pitching. Arlington scored on Knudson’s line-drive single, an RBI-groundout that was nearly a Shorewood double play, and a wild pitch that allowed Reece Boekenoogen to score on a close play at the plate. The Stormays worked out of several jams, but couldn’t solve Bradley’s offerings.
“In a big situation like today, it’s like any other game,” said Knudson, a sophomore catcher. “Pound the zone, throw strikes.”
The Eagles will need a lot more of that on Saturday. Mount Vernon (19-1), which last played on April 26, enters the game rested and carrying an 18-game winning streak.
Boekenoogen, a junior center fielder, said the Eagles believe they have a chance to upset the Bulldogs if they can repeat what they delivered on Thursday.
“We just have to keep hitting the way we’ve been hitting, and be confident,” Boekenoogen said.
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