NEW SURFACE — Brooke debuted its new artificial turf baseball field on Thursday against Toronto. - Aaron Petchal

“Let’s go with two,” Toronto (17-2) said to his team with the Red Knights trailing 2-0 with two outs in the top of the third inning. The message was received as the Red Knights plated six runs on five hits.

” with two outs to take a 6-2 lead.

The Bruins battled back and collected a run in the fifth and another in the sixth, and Brooke had the tying run on base in the seventh, however, Aiden Filby was able to shut the door enabling the boys from the Gem City to escape Brooke County with a 6-4 victory Thursday night in the first game of the season played on Brooke’s new turf field.

“First of all, Brooke has a beautiful new facility,” Perkins said. “We are grateful to be one of the first team to play on it for the first time.

DELIVERY — Toronto’s Aiden Filby delivers against Brooke during Thursday’s game. Filby worked out of relief to help the Red Knights fend off the Bruins, 6-4. - Andrew Grimm

“We had a couple of bad plays early on, but our kids are resilient. They have a never say die mentality. They did a great job of stringing hits together, and we had the big inning.”

The third inning proved to be the difference in the game.

“They scored six runs with two outs, and that was all the runs they scored,” Brooke (15-10) head coach Doug Costain said. “It was a two-out walk that started that. Good teams find a way to take advantage of things like that. They hit the ball hard. We had our opportunities.”

Trailing 2-0 with two outs, Cole Barcus – Toronto’s leadoff batter – drew a walk, and the shortstop scored on a double by Drake Bouscher to cut Toronto’s deficit down to 2-1. Russ Dickinson followed with a single scoring Bouscher to knot the score at 2. Dickinson then stole second base, and the third baseman scored on an RBI triple by catcher Michael Henry to give the boys from Jefferson County the lead at 3-2.

Colt Joynson came into the game to run for Henry, and he scored on a single by Filby to increase Toronto’s advantage to 4-2. Filby then stole second, and Chase Heckathorn drew a walk to put two runners on base. Then, Tanner Newbold doubled home both runners to extend the Red Knights’ advantage to 6-2.

The hosts pushed across a run in the fourth to make it a 6-3 ballgame, and the boys in white tallied another run in the fifh to pull within two runs, however, they were unabled to get any closer.

“This group does not quit,” Costain said. “We just can’t give up four outs on the bases. That is an inning plus one. We took the bat out of our hands. We might have been able to scrape together another run. We could have made it close.

“We are in our kids ears about our expectations. We just fell asleep a little bit today.”

The victors used two pitchers in the game.

Bouscher started on the mound, and the sophomore pitched the first 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one. Bouscher was replaced with one out in the bottom of the fifth by Filby. Filby pitched the final 1 2/3 innings. Filby finished the game with two strikeouts and no walks.

“They both pitched great,” Perkins said. ” Drake is only a sophomore. He threw a great game. He kept them off-balance. Then, Aiden came in and closed the door. He did a great job. Both pitchers pitched great.”

Bouscher and Filby combined to pick off four Brooke base runners. Toronto picked off five base runners in a game two years ago against Mathews.

Brooke used three pitchers. Henry Anderson started and took the loss. Anderson, who is going to play in college at Shepard, struck out eight and walked two in three innings of work. He was replaced by Gino Provenzano to start the fourth. Provenzano pitched the next two innings, striking out two and walking one. Gavin Kuchinski came on to pitch to start the sixth inning. Kuchinski pitched the final two innings. He struck out one without walking a batter.

Bouscher singled in the first to account for all six of Toronto’s hits in the win.

Brooke recorded eight hits – five of which went for extra bases.

Individually, Aiden Provenzano produced two doubles and an RBI, Gino Provenzano ended up with a single and two RBI and Parker McMahon recorded a single and an RBI. Also, Garrett Moore tallied a single and a double, Zac O’Mery contributed a triple and Andrew Murdock collected a double.

The Bruins plated a pair of runs in the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Murdock doubled to lead off the inning, and with one out, Aiden Provenzano doubled to put runners on second and third. Then with two outs, Gino Provenzano singled home both runners to give the home team a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins held the lead until the Red and White’s bats came alive with two outs in the third.

“Both teams had some hard hit balls, and both teams made plays,” Perkins said. “Both teams hit the ball hard. We are fortunate to come out of here with a win. There were a lot of hard hit balls.”

Brooke attempted to rally from its four-run deficit, but the mountain was too high for the Bruins to climb.

“This is awesome,” Costain said about his team’s new field. “Losing the game takes a little bit of the luster off the day. I want to thank the school board, the superintendent, the assistant superintendent and everyone who made this happen. We are going to win plenty of games on this field through the years.”

Brooke is scheduled to play rival Wheeling Park at noon Saturday at home.

Toronto is set to play in the Prep Baseball Report Classic against Normandy at 12:30 p.m. Saturday up at Kent State.

Toronto 6, Brooke 4

Toronto 006 000 0 – 6 6 0

Brooke 200 011 0 – 6 8 2

TORONTO (17-2): Bouscher WP (5 1/3IP, 5K, 1BB), Filby (1 2/3IP, 2K, 0BB) and Henry. Bouscher S, D, RBI; Dickinson S, RBI; Henry T, RBI; Filby S, RBI; T. Newbold D, 2RBI.

BROOKE (15-10): Anderson LP (3IP, 8K, 2BB), G. Provenzano (2IP, 1K, 3BB), Kuchinski (2IP, 1K, 0BB) and A. Provenzano. Murdock D; O’Mery T; A. Provenzano 2D, RBI; G. Provenzano S, 2RBI; Moore S, D; McMahon S, RBI.