Bradley-Bourbonnais strands early runners, sees Homewood-Flossmoor pull away

BRADLEY ‐ In each of the first three innings of Friday’s home game against Homewood-Flossmoor, the Bradley-Bourbonnais baseball team was able to push a run across, but also left eight runners on base, including loaded bags in both the second and third innings.

With their lead narrow through the start, the visiting Vikings were able to take advantage when they had opportunities as the game went on, including on four uncharacteristic Boilermaker errors. After not taking their first lead until the fifth inning, Homewood-Flossmoor broke loose with a five-run sixth to score a 10-3 SouthWest Suburban Conference win in a game called after six innings due to darkness.

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Bradley-Bourbonnais' Cody Freitas, left, fields a ground ball in front of Homewood-Flossmoor's Derrick Holmes Jr. during a game at Bradley-Bourbonnais Friday, April 11, 2025. (Mason Schweizer)

"Momentum is everything, especially in high school baseball," Boilers head coach Brad Schweigert said. “We let the momentum go to their side and didn’t respond. We had two chances with the bases loaded to get a big hit and break it open a little bit.

“We didn’t do that, they hung around and you saw what happened,” he added. “We’ve gotta take advantage of those opportunities, especially early in the game.”

Things looked promising early for the Boilers (7-4, 1-2), who saw Jace Boudreau reach on an error and eventually score on a double steal in the first and Sam Frey score on an error in the second to give starting pitcher Mason Shaul a 2-0 lead through a pair.

The Vikings tied it with one swing in the third, a two-run double off the bat of Demir Heidelberg, before Byron Sumrall scored on the third Homewood-Flossmoor error of the game to put the Boilers back up 3-2 through three.

But with two outs in the top of the fourth, back-to-back errors allowed Derrick Holmes Jr. to score and once again tie the game 3-3 through four, ending Shaul’s day on the mound. The senior right-hander was largely effective in his bid to provide the Boilers pitching depth in their third game in as many days, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits, a walk and three strikeouts.

“I thought he did a phenomenal job,” Schweigert said. “He’s just a competitor, someone where you can put him in a position and he’s gonna compete and do it to the best of his ability. I thought he did a great job.”

The Vikings took their first lead in their two-run top of the fifth, when Heidelberg scored on an error and Jamir Scott scored on a wild pitch. They broke it open with a five-run sixth that included three doubles and a triple, as well as another Boiler error.

“It’s one of those things where we’ve gotta learn from it, for sure, so we’ll talk about it,” Schweigert said of the game slipping away. “But we’ve gotta flush it and move on. We’ve got two more games [Saturday].”

After splitting their SWSC series with Sandburg Wednesday and Thursday, the Boilers started a two-game set with the Vikings that concludes Monday, as well as a doubleheader against Joliet West Saturday. With six games in as many days, Schweigert said the Boilers are going to start to learn how they can piece along their depth as the season reaches the middle portion, especially on the mound.

“It’s still early April,” Schweigert said, “You’ve gotta give guys opportunities and figure out what you’ve got. That’s basically what it was today, and that’s what it will be tomorrow. We’ll have a lot of guys throwing, and we’ll give them opportunities and see what we’ve got.”

Freitas and Cayden Arbour each had hits for the Boilers as Vikings pitchers Chris Hicks and Cormac Saunders each pitched three innings of one-hit ball.