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Bradshaw’s opportunity knocked in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night against the Martinsville Mustangs with the Tommies leading by more than two touchdowns. In his first at-bat in a Thomasville uniform, Bradshaw blasted a three-run home run, capping a record-setting night in the Hi-Toms 22-1 flogging of the Mustangs. The run total is a new franchise record, eclipsing the 19 runs the Tommies scored in 2006.
“I was just trying to get a hit,” Bradshaw said right before teammates doused him with an ice bucket. “[My teammates] were joking around but I was being serious. I wanted to get a hit. That was my first swing since high school so I was nervous. At the same time, I was trying to get a hit. I’d been telling [McCay] all year to put me in so I could get an [at-bat]. I thought at the beginning of the game that I might get a chance to hit. He gave me an opportunity.”
Bradshaw had plenty of reason to believe Thursday would be the night as the Hi-Toms (27-15, 11-3) took all the drama out of the game before they recorded their first out. The first nine Tommies reached base, leading to six runs and one forgetful outing for Martinsville starter Mike Piazza, who gave up five hits, two walks and a hit batter before he departed. Chris McGuiness, C.J. Beatty, Richard Jones, Wes Hobson, Ben Thielsen, Josh Liles and Sonny Meade all plated runs in the opening frame, giving Thomasville starter Jesse Haney plenty of offense to work with. By the time the right-hander took the mound in the second, he led 10-0.
Making the offensive eruption even more bizarre was that it came on the heels of a 2-1 Hi-Toms loss the night before. Thomasville had to make the long trip home from Edenton earlier in the morning but that obviously didn’t impact the Tommies’ sticks.
“I can’t explain it,” said McCay. “We got to the beach and everyone’s happy and we score one run. We get on a five-hour bus ride and get home at four in the morning, nobody gets a whole lot of sleep, and we score 22. I have no idea. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like it. It was unbelievable. They came up in the first inning focused and hit some really good pitches.”
Fireworks continued in the fifth as 11 Hi-Toms came to the plate. This time, however, Thomasville broke out the big wood, clubbing three home runs in the frame. Meade cranked a two-run shot, and Beatty and Jones went back-to-back off Matt Schneider, tacking on the field goal for a 17-0 advantage.
With the game well in hand, McCay decided to give into some of the pleas from players like Bradshaw and third baseman Yogi Gunther, who pitched the seventh inning, giving up the lone run. Staff ace Justin Sarratt finished the game at third. But with a double-header slated for tonight, McCay felt the time was right.
“Those guys have been pestering me all year about getting some time on the mound or getting up to the plate,” McCay said. “ I just wanted to give a handful of my guys some rest. We needed to rest our pitchers. I didn’t want to burn a pitcher up by 20 runs. I needed to save a few arms.”
Beatty put the finishing touches on his 3-for-6 night by smashing his second homer of the game in the seventh, joining a quartet of players who add at least three hits. Meade went 4-for-5 with four RBI, Jones had three hits and drove in a pair and Hobson added four hits in his six at-bats. The Tommies pounded out 19 hits in all.
“It was like magic,” said Beatty. “Everybody’s dream came true. I don’t know of anybody that wasn’t having fun in the dugout — whether or not you didn’t have any hits at all. It was fun to be a part of the Hi-Toms family.”
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.