The Bruins fell to the Ohio Christian University Trailblazers in the season opener with a final score of 9-0.

"Today was a rough game," Head Coach Kyle Morrison said. "However, I was encouraged with how our pitchers competed. Ryan Pierce, Tillman Padgett, and Gabriel Swarms have grown a lot."

In the first few innings, the score held steady at 0-0. Bruins starting pitcher Ryan Pierce had two great innings to start the game only allowing one runner on base. He faced pressure in the third inning when there were runners on second and third base, but with two outs. He was able to stay calm and get out of that jam with a strikeout. Even though there was great pitching and defense, the Bruins were held without a hit during those innings and weren't able to capitalize. 

The Trailblazers finally broke through and were able to score three runs in the top of the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Conley Burk slapped a single for the Bruins first hit of the game and season. Burk got caught trying to steal second and came up hobbled and would not return the rest of the game.

Tillman Padgett came in to pitch after four innings by Ryan Pierce and threw a scoreless fifth inning. The Trailblazers were able to tack on a couple more in the sixth inning, though, which made it 5-0. Elijah Medrano led off the bottom of the inning for the Bruins with a leadoff double hoping to spark life into the Bruins offense. Unfortunately for the Bruins, that was followed by three straight flyouts to end the inning. 

In the final three innings, the Trailblazers scored a few more to make it a 9-0 game and the Bruins weren't able to answer. Throughout the game, it wasn't the inability to get contact that hurt the Bruins offensively, but just the fact they couldn't hit it away from the Trailblazer fielders. The Bruins only struck out three times all game long, so that means that 24 of the game's 27 outs were all fielded plays off some powerful hits by the Bruins.

"We had some solid barrels on the ball," Coach Morrison said, "but OCU's infield made some awesome plays. Tomorrow we're excited about the two guys throwing, and we'll be working hard at being more selective with our pitch selection as hitters."

The Bruins will look for their first win of the season tomorrow as they have a doubleheader against the Trailblazers back at Conestee Park. The first game is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. with the second game shortly after.

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