Bradley's Dominate Pitching Performance And An Offensive Outburst Propels Prince George's Baseball To Win In NJCAA Region XX Division III Tournament

YOUNGBLOOD, Pa.- The defending National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XX Division III Baseball Tournament champions started the 2018 edition of the tournament with a 10-0 victory in eight innings against top seed Montgomery College on Friday. Freshman Keaton Bradley (Bahama, N.C./Northern Durham) pitched six strong shutout innings and freshman Josh Pietrandrea (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) got the Owls on the scoreboard with his seventh home run of the season to help erupt the Prince George's offense.

With the win, the Owls will play Westmoreland County Community College on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Wolfpack defeated CCAC South 8-7 in 10 innings. The game has been moved up an hour due to the weather forecast for Western Pennsylvania.

Bradley scattered seven hits through seven shutout innings and recorded six strikeouts on his way to his fourth win of the season, but maybe the biggest of his young collegiate career with this victory helping the Owls stay in the winner's bracket in postseason play. 

Pietrandrea, who homered in Tuesday's 11-3 win against CCAC South, led off the fifth with his third home run in six days to give the Largo program the lead it would not relinquish. The freshman added an RBI single in a seven-run eighth to finish the day 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Freshman Pedro Montero (LaRomana, Dominican Republic/Colegio Nueva) posted a 3-for-4 performance with two RBIs and a run scored while sophomore Austin Adams (Atlanta, Ga./Whitewater) added a 2-for-3 performance with two RBIs and a run scored. Freshman Vinny Rotundo (New York, N.Y./Middletown) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs and freshman Tommy Petrosino Jr (Bayonne, N.J./St. Anthony's) added a 2-for-4 day with two runs scored in the winning effort.

The game was a pitcher's duel for the first four innings with Bradley keeping the Raptors off the scoreboard. Prince George's then scored three in the fifth and seven in the eighth to go on for a 10-0 victory.

Pietrandrea led off the fifth with a solo homer to put the first run on the scoreboard for the afternoon. Rotundo and Petrosino followed with singles before Shawn Alicea (Brooklyn, N.Y./Grand Street) walked to load the bases. Montero plated Rotundo with an RBI single and Adams bunted home Petrosino for a 3-0 lead.

The Owls put the game away in the eighth with a seven-run frame. After Brandon Crosby (Richmond, Va./Atlee, Mechanicsville) walked to open the inning, Bay To (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) and Pietrandrea singled to score Crosby on Pietrandrea's base hit. Rotundo smacked a two-run single to increase the advantage to 6-0. Petrosino reached on Prince George's fourth-straight single and Montero and Adams recorded back-to-back one-out RBI singles before Jake Brewer (Gibson City, Ill./Gibson City Melvin Sibley) capped a seven-run outburst and hand the Largo team a 10-0 lead with a two-run double.

Dominic Marquez (Long Beach, Calif./Jordan) tossed the final two scoreless innings to complete the shutout.

With a win tomorrow, Prince George's will advance to the championship round on Sunday. If the Owls lose to Westmoreland County at 10 a.m. on Saturday, they will have to play again at 1 p.m. to advance to the championship round.