The Bruins picked up their first win of the season in a 2-1 decision against South Region rivals Toccoa Falls College. Henry Wallach pitched all nine innings to capture the win. With tonight's win, the Bruins have improved to 1-8 on the season.
"I'm excited we got the win," said Head Coach Brent Casteel. "We finally got that off our backs and we're ready to roll on here. Tough team as always with Toccoa. They beat up on us last year, and we want to come out here today and pull off something so we're very excited that happened."
Both teams looked to snap their losing steaks as the Bruins came into tonight's game after falling 3-13 on the road to Columbia International University on Tuesday. Toccoa Falls came into game one of the weekend series 6-17 on the season having lost five of their last six games.
The first inning went by quickly. At the bottom of the second, Zach Burk and Daniel Barcena both singled to get on base. Burk then stole third to have runners at first and third with no outs for the home team. As Shane Paruch came up to the batter's box, he would send the ball out to right field giving Burk the chance to score and give the Bruins the 1-0 lead.
The Bruins would hold on to the 1-0 lead until the top of the seventh inning where the Screaming Eagles were able to tie the game off of an error by the home team. But the 1-1 tie wouldn't hold for long. At the bottom of the seventh, Colby Hogan would send the ball out to left field and giving him the chance to run to second base. With two strikes, Cole Pearson sent one right up the middle allowing him to tag first base while Hogan advanced to third. Next up to bat was Zach Burk. With a base hit, Burk would come through allowing Colby Hogan to score and giving the Bruins the 2-1 advantage.
The Bruins held off the Screaming Eagles for the last two innings and were able to come away with the 2-1 victory.
It was a solid pitching performance from Henry Wallach as he pitched his first complete game. "He really wanted it, and we're thankful he did what he did for us," said Coach Casteel. "Henry is one of those guys you know you can depend on."
As the team continues through this season, Coach Casteel is working on their discipline. "We're going to keep learning that discipline at the plate," said Casteel "They'll learn when to lay off that curveball, that offspeed pitch, and when to hit it when it's hanging. They just have to get to that point where they have that confidence. They're working on it, and they're working hard."
Looking ahead at tomorrow's games, Coach Casteel said that he's "hoping they're ready to attack right away. We come out on the field and know we've beat them once, let's come out and get after it. Toccoa isn't going to sit back. They're going to come out hard, so we have to do the same thing. Should be some confidence in our hip pocket because of what we did tonight. All we have got to do is do what we're supposed to do on the field and hopefully pull off two more."
The Bruins are back at Conestee Park tomorrow for a doubleheader against the Screaming Eagles with games starting at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
