Photo by Cody Nespor Linsly pitcher Jack Selmon delivers to the plate during Thursday’s game against visiting Brooke at Holloway Field.

By CODY NESPOR

Sports Writer

WHEELING — An opportunistic and aggressive Linsly offense plated eights runs in the first two innings Thursday evening, defeating visiting Brooke 9-1 at Holloway Field.

The Cadets (6-0) were busy on the basepaths all game, constantly taking an extra base on passed balls, wild pitches or stolen bases.

“Our guys are doing a good job on the bases in terms of getting good leads on the pitch and getting good jumps on balls in the dirt,” said Linsly coach Jay Cartwright. “We did that all night and that was a key to a lot of the runs we scored. It’s good to see that doing those kinds of things on the bases pays off.”

After pitching a quick 1-2-3 top of the first, left-hander Luca DiLorenzo got the action on the bases started early for the Cadets as he led-off with a walk and immediately stole second and third base to put himself just 90 feet away from scoring one batter into the game.

After Trey Prather also took a walk, the junior followed DiLorenzo’s lead and immediately tried to steal second base. The throw from Brooke’s catcher missed the glove of the second baseman and ended up in center field, allowing DiLorenzo to scamper home and Prather to replace him at third. Senior Adam Och scored Prather with a hard grounder to second and the Cadets went up 2-0 three batters into the game without a single hit.

“We just made mistakes in the beginning of the game, which we can’t do when we have a freshman starting on the mound,” Brooke coach CJ Besce said. “It’s just stuff you can’t do against a program like that. We needed to play a pretty solid game to be in the game.”

Senior Brodie Selmon put the finishing touch on the bottom of the first when he drove a ball to the right-field warning track to plate two more runs and put Linsly up 4-0.

After another quick top of the inning by DiLorenzo, the Cadets got right back to work in the bottom of the second. No. 9 hitter Xavier Frankhouser drew a walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error by Brooke’s third baseman. That error allowed Prather to get to second base and he was quickly driven in on a single up the middle by Och.

Later in the inning, back-to-back RBI singles by Jack and Brodie Selmon gave Linsly an 8-0 lead after two innings.

“We settled down after, but you can’t give up what we gave up in the first couple of innings,” Besece said. “You can’t not make plays — routine plays — against a good team like that.”

In the game, Linsly baserunners moved up a total of 17 times on stolen bases, passed balls, wild pitches or Brooke errors.

“The key is, you’ve got to be moving on the pitch, which we beat into their heads all the time,” Cartwright said. “You’ve got to be aggressively moving on the pitch and you’ve got to see the ball in the dirt. Even our guys that maybe aren’t the fastest are catching on that they can move up on those, it’s a weapon.”

The Bruins (4-3) got a run back in the top of the third when Charles Fuscardo singled home Raymond DeFranco, but the scoring petered out as both teams got into their bullpens.

DiLorenzo lasted 2 2/3 innings for Linsly, striking out five and walking just one. Jack Selmon was impressive in 3 2/3 innings of relief as he allowed just two baserunners while striking out two.

Brodie Selmon drove in three runs with a single and double while Och had a single and two RBI. Alex Taylor and Jack Selmon both finished with a single and an RBI.

For Brooke, freshman starter Henry Anderson took the loss, allowing seven runs in 1 1/3 innings. Sophomore Owen Petrella gave up one run while allowing just three baserunners in 3 1/3 innings of relief. He also struck out three.

The Bruins will make a trip to Indian Creek for a game tonight, while Linsly will be at home for a while, hosting Oak Glen this afternoon and Western Reserve for a doubleheader on Saturday.

Linsly 9, Brooke 1

BROOKE — Anderson lp (1K, 4BB), DeFranco (2) (0K, 1BB), Petrella (3) (3K, 3BB), Gajtka (6) (2K, 0BB) and Mozingo. Fuscardo S, rbi.

LINSLY — DiLorenzo wp (5K, 1BB), Costanzo (3) (0K, 0BB), J. Selmon (4) (2K, 1BB), Prather (7) (0K, 0BB) and J. Selmon and Wilson. Och S, 2rbi; Taylor S, rbi; J. Selmon S, rbi; B. Selmon S, D, 3rbi.

B 0-0-1 0-0-0 0 — 1 4 3

L 4-4-0 1-0-0 x — 9 6 0