May 6, 2017
Lutheran vs Speedway
County Tournament
Aiden Bradbury
A great aspect about baseball is that it teaches young men so much about life. How to compete, get along with others, come to work every day and many other aspects. As a coach a major emphasis for me was to put players in position to do their best and to learn how to win the game with their individual actions along with the efforts of their teammates. I can think of many examples of this goal of learning to win the game. For this article, I am going to focus on one player and efforts to assist him in learning how to win the game.
As we all recognize about baseball, pitching is the name of the game. Good pitching typically beats good hitting. For a pitcher, whether a starter or reliever, learning how to compete and win is integral to their success and the overall success of the team.
Aiden Bradbury was a freshman pitcher in 2017. He was 6’3 or 6’4”, probably threw mid-80’s and demonstrated a lot of potential. Aiden, like most of our pitchers, played other positions when not pitching, 1B, 3B, and even SS. The journey to learn to win the game started in our first game of the season against Perry Meridian at Holder Field. Our first game was to have been against Greenwood Christian but we were rained out. I generally liked to have our teams play a big school early in the season and then again later in the season to see how we had progressed. In 2017 we jumped right in against a 4A school that had a history of good teams.
In this game Matthew Alter, sophomore, started on the mound for us. Matthew had started two games as a freshman so he seemed like the logical starter in game 1 of the season. In this season opener, Matthew did a great job. After 4 innings the score was tied at 0-0. In the top of the 5 th we scored two runs when Noah Wood, sophomore catcher, had a 2-run double scoring Patrick Kem and Jacob Faubion.
In the bottom half of the 5th, the number 8 hitter for Perry Meridian struck out but it took Matthew 9 pitches to get him as he kept fouling off pitches. The next hitter got on base due to an error. The lead off hitter then singled as did the number 2 hitter and Perry scored a run. Matthew then walked the next hitter to load the bases with one out. It was pretty obvious that Matthew was tiring and we decided to bring in freshman Aiden Bradbury, thrown right into the fire! His path to learning to win the game was beginning in his first varsity game.
Aiden struck out his first batter then got the 3 rd out on a pop out. We ended the fifth inning ahead 2-1. We did not score any more runs but neither did Perry Meridian! Aiden struck out the side in the sixth inning and pitched around a lead off error in the seventh to end the game. It was a wonderful win for a very young team. We were somewhat surprised by how well Matthew and Aiden did on the mound. We might have a pretty good season.
Aiden’s path to learning how to win the game had a large first step. He pitched in relief against Eastern Hancock and ended up with the loss. He then started versus Cardinal Ritter and had a rough outing giving up 9 runs in 3 innings. Next he pitched against Scecina in relief for the save and then started against Waldron getting the win with 6 Innings Pitched and giving up only 1 hit.
Going into our County Tournament game against Speedway, our record was 7 and 4. We had defeated Park Tudor, Triton Central, Waldron, Edinburgh, Morristown, Scecina and Perry Meridian. Our losses were against Ritter, Eastern Hancock, Perry Meridian and Speedway. Speedway beat us 11-5 when they only had 3 hits. Sadly we had 9 errors and walked 8 of their hitters.
We believed Aiden was the right choice to face Speedway. He could focus on throwing primarily fastballs and hopefully would have too much velocity for them. Going into this game, he had experienced some mixed results but had a strong outing against Waldron in his last start, so we were optimistic. Learning how to win the game is more than just in the games. Practices, experiences, confidence in oneself and teammates, plus relationships with coaches all contribute as well as other factors. The path is longer for some players, shorter for others. Each player and pitcher has their own journey. I, along with the other coaches and players, saw an excellent future for Aiden. This game would most likely be a big step for him.
To give Aiden a boost we scored 3 runs in the top of the first inning. It was not so much what we did but what Speedway did. They had 3 errors, and hit a batter. We ran the bases and figured out how to get runners across home plate. As we anticipated, Aiden was nervous but he struck out the lead off hitter. He then gave up a double followed by a single for a run. The number 4 hitter also doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. The next batter hit a ground ball to Carson Thomas at 3rd. Carson threw out the runner at home for the second out. Aiden got the 3rd out on a pop out. We scored another run in the second inning with two outs when Patrick Kem, Jacob Faubion and Matthew Alter had consecutive singles. Speedway also scored a run in their half of the second with two singles and a hit batter. So after two innings, we were ahead 4-2 and Aiden was doing OK.
In the 3rd inning we scored two more runs. With two outs Zach Sanders and Caleb Clark were hit by a pitches. Brett Reid then singled to centerfield and the ball got passed the outfielder and both Zach and Caleb scored. We also scored two runs in the fourth inning due to two errors, a walk and then two bases loaded walks. The lead of 8-2 allowed Aiden to relax some and he retired the next six hitters in order. He was learning to win.
Learning to win usually does not happen easily but by overcoming obstacles and challenges. After 4 and a half innings we led 8-2 and Aiden was on a roll. He had thrown 63 pitches, almost all fastballs, and was learning. In the 5th , he really started to learn to win the game.
I am sharing my thoughts as a coach about my approach to providing a player an opportunity to learn. I am sure other coaches and other people may have different thoughts and perspectives, but this was my way with Aiden. I believed Aiden had the potential to do big things at Lutheran High School during this season but particularly as he progressed the next three seasons. For the next two seasons, we would have Matthew and Aiden to pitch. That thought was very exciting for me, Coach Riensche and Coach Baglow as well as for the other players, I would think.
Aiden walked the lead off hitter in the 5th. He also walked the 2nd hitter. The next batter, Speedway’s 2nd hitter, then doubled and two runs scored. The score was 8-4, they had a runner on 2nd and no outs. The 2017 season was the first season that the IHSAA implemented a pitch count so that was going to be a consideration for Aiden in this game but in my coaching career I think I was very conscious about a pitcher and his workload. This involved how many pitches were thrown, the type of pitches thrown, the experience of the pitcher, the stress level of pitches and other factors.
Aiden was now having some stressful situations, and was throwing more pitches. His control on fastballs was a little off and he was going to have to gather himself to throw strikes, get batters out and win the game. I do not remember exactly, but after the double I am guessing that I went to the mound to speak with Aiden. I most likely was trying to give him some time to calm down, have him focus on what he needed to do and go over the situation for him. I was not going to take him out unless Aiden gave me a feeling that he was too tired or in over his head. I am not certain if he wanted to come out of the game or not, but I did not see any sign that he was ready to be relieved. I think he wanted to win the game. He got the next two hitters to pop out to Patrick Kem at shortstop. He hit the next batter and then got the third out on a fly ball to rightfielder Brett Reid.
So, after five innings, we led 8-4 and Aiden had now thrown 90 pitches. Technically, Aiden had qualified for the win by pitching 5 innings and we were leading. He still had 30 pitches available in the game, a max of 120 pitches per game. I wanted Aiden to learn to win the game. I envisioned several games over the next several seasons where Aiden would be in position to win many games and be a very successful pitcher. The attitude about winning could begin now. I kept Aiden in to pitch the 6th inning as he was going to face batters 7 through 9. Of course, the 7th hitter leads off with a single. Aiden strikes out the 8th hitter, but walks the number 9 hitter with 9 pitches. Decision time is coming.
Speedway has their lead off hitter up with one out and runners on 1st and 2nd. Aiden had not lost any velocity, was throwing almost all fastballs so I continued to encourage Aiden to win the game. The lead off hitter tried bunting for a hit but Aiden was able to field it and throw him out for the second out. The next hitter, Jake Bryant, was already 3 for 3 in the game. It was my vision for Aiden to get him out and end the inning. Most likely, it was going to be Aiden’s last hitter of the game either by result or the pitch count as he was now up to 110 pitches. Again, Aiden was not struggling with 110 pitches but he was a young pitcher and taking care of arms is vital. It was my judgment that Aiden could get this last hitter of the inning. What a positive way to end his game by getting out their best hitter. Well, Aiden went to a 2-2 count and then got the hitter to pop out to Matthew at first base to end the inning.
Obviously, all involved for our team were excited to end the inning and for Aiden to have such an excellent outing in a County Tournament game. Aiden had met the challenge and had put our team in great position to win the game. We brought in senior reliever Zach Sanders to pitch the 7th inning. Zach had previous experiences in winning games. He came in and struck out their number 3 hitter, walked the clean up guy and then got a ground out for the 2nd out. Zach finished the game by striking out the last batter for a big win for our team. Aiden, Zach and our team learned to win an important game.
So, did Aiden learn how to win the game? Over the rest of our season we learned that we had a very good combination of Matthew and Aiden. We ended up winning 17 games and winning Lutheran’s only Regional Championship with Aiden and Matthew combining to win games.
Our vision for the future changed quickly after the season as Aiden and his family moved to Carmel and he pitched at Carmel High School. Aiden had a successful career at Carmel, got a scholarship to pitch at the University of Cincinnati and then transferred to Northern Kentucky to complete his college career. I am going with that Aiden learned to win the game!
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