Bremen starter Bryce Cassel
BREMEN – It was a tough night for hitters but a great night for pitching and defense that came out with Bremen defeating Plymouth by a 2-1 final.
The difference in the game – essentially – was a second inning bout of wildness from Plymouth starter Braydon Davidson who walked three hitters in that frame and surrendered a two run single to Bremen centerfielder Zach Burkholder, before striking out the side.
After that both teams were nearly perfect until David Bacon threw out Ryan Topper trying to score on another Burkholder single in the fourth. Bremen surrendered the Pilgrims only run in the seventh after Brandon Milligan led off with a double and scored on a Bacon ground out.
Plymouth was without head coach Ryan Wolfe who had been ejected in a loss at Rochester the night before. Standing in for the Plymouth boss were assistants Ryan Welch, and Brent Corbett who could only say their team – once again – played very well.
“You know defensively we played really clean out there,” said Welch. “I think we gave up some easy base runner on some walks. Our hitters didn’t come through again it’s really the same thing we were talking about last night. We got some runners on base and couldn’t knock them in.”
The story of the night was a masterful performance from Bremen starter Bryce Cassel who scattered six hits, walked just two and struck out four. He gained high praise from his head coach.
“He’s been doing that since he’s been a freshman,” said Bremen coach Bo Hundt. “It’s why he’s been one of our best pitchers for the past three years. After he found the zone he was right around it. He goes out there and comes at you and says, ‘Hey if you’re going to outhit us outhit us but you’re going to have to hit my pitch.”
“That’s the first game we’ve been error free – I’m not saying mental errors, we had a few of those – but our defense really stepped up for him. It’s his leadership out there. Our kids want to play behind him and we need to get that from some other pitchers too.”
Plymouth starter Davidson also had a solid outing and Plymouth’s defense was hardly at fault.
“The one inning got him,” said Welch of Davidson’s performance. “Besides that he threw well and our defense got him out of some jams. He wanted the ball out there. We talked between the third and the fourth he wanted one more and he went out and got them. He battled out there for us today.”
Both team’s had very few opportunities to score – Plymouth left six runners on base, Bremen just five – but the Lions were able to plate one more.
Bremen stands 4-2 on the year, Plymouth (1-3) is at home with Triton on Thursday night.
Linescore
Plymouth 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1-6-0
Bremen 0 2 0 0 0 0 x – 2-5-1
WP – Bryce Cassel. LP – Braydon Davidson. 2B – Brandon Milligan.
