Walks Bite Bridgeport in 8-4 Loss to Robert C. Byrd
By Michael Minnich on April 09, 2026
The Robert C. Byrd Flying Eagles scored seven straight runs to hand the Bridgeport Indians their first Big 10 Conference and Class AAA loss of the season, 8-4.
Brooks Vass had two of the Tribe’s six hits, scoring a run and driving in another and Cole Arnett singled and drove In a run.
Kasen Baun went 4 1/3 innings, striking out eight but walking seven, part of a total of 12 free passes issued by Bridgeport arms, though the Tribe did record 15 strikeouts on the mound.
RCB pitching, though, fanned a dozen.
“You can’t defend walks,” Bridgeport coach Robert Shields said. “We got one runner thrown out and we had 12 strikeouts, so they only had to make eight plays in the field.”
Robert C. Byrd wasted no time getting the lead as Cooper Floyd launched a leadoff solo home run.
“They’re a really good ballclub,” Shields said. “They’ve got a lot of experience, more experience than we have right now.”
Bridgeport, though, turned a 6-4-3 double play behind starter Baun to erase a one-out walk to Xavier Carvelli to prevent any other damage.
Carvelli retired Bridgeport in order in the first, then Baun struck out the final two hitters of the second to work around an error.
Vass singled with one away in the bottom of the second, then two walks loaded the bases with two away.
An error brought home Vass with the tying run.
Baun then struck out Jaxson Maglowski with the bases loaded in the third to preserve the 1-1 scoreline.
Bridgeport had second and third with nobody out in the bottom of the third when Luke Rohrig led off with a single and Jax McNally doubled, but a caught stealing at home, a strikeout and a groundout prevented the Tribe from taking its first lead.
Robert C. Byrd again threatened in the fourth as Anderson Levake singled to lead off and Reed Lowther worked a one-out walk, then a fielder’s choice erased Levake.
Facing the dangerous Floyd, Baun got up 0-2, then, after a ball, got strike 3 looking to end the inning; halfway home, still 1-1.
Bridgeport took the lead in the bottom of the fourth.
Dom Fazalare worked a walk, moved up twice and scored on Cole Arnett’s single.
Ashton Shaffer then hit RCB’s solo home run to lead off an inning of the game to even things at 2.
A walk to Carvelli, a single by Maglowski and a walk to Levake then loaded the bases.
Talan Thomas came on in relief with Baun at his pitch limit and got a big strikeout of Owen O’Mara for the second out.
But Lowther worked the go-ahead walk: 3-2.
“Take the walks away and it’s still a 2-2 ballgame,” Shields said. “I’m not going to put that all on our pitchers. In a tight ballgame like that, we’ve got to find a way to produce runs and we didn’t do that.”
Landon Frazier then singled off of Thomas’ glove for a two-RBI single: 5-2.
That brought it back to Floyd, who walked to re-pack the sacks.
Thomas then fanned Shaffer to end the four-run frame.
Owen Sondericker’s one-out infield single was all Bridgeport managed in the bottom of the fifth.
Thomas got an inning-ending strikeout to strand two Eagles in the top of the sixth.
Bridgeport got a baserunner in the sixth when Fazalare walked and was erased on a Thomas fielder’s choice, but again couldn’t cash in as Carvelli got a strikeout to hit the pitch limit and end the inning.
A passed ball third strike allowed Lowther to reach against Bridgeport reliever Vass, then Floyd doubled and Carvelli drew his fourth walk of th evening.
Saverio Destito then tagged one into the left-center gap for a three-RBI double, doubling the gap to six runs, 8-2.
Bridgeport made a late push in the seventh against reliever Levake as Sondericker singled with two outs, moved up twice on balks and scored on an error on Baun’s grounder, then Baun came home on a Vass base hit.
But Bridgeport’s 12th strikeout of the evening ended the game.
Bridgeport (5-2) has a day off before facing Frankfort at Mylan Park on Friday at 7 p.m., then Hurricane on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Mylan Park and Huntington at WVU’s Kendrick Family Ballpark at 3 p.m.
“Big weekend ahead,” Shields said. “We’ve got to fix it really quickly. I’m excited for the big weekend. I want to play quality opponents
“They need to get grinding and they need to get a bulldog attitude.”
