Andrew Grimm AROUND THIRD — Indian Creek's Hunter Rusnak races around third base to score a run against Brooke on Thursday.

Suffice it to say, they were pretty happy with what they saw Thursday evening.

The Redskins went on the road to Brooke and got going in the middle innings, pulling away for an 11-1 victory and a season sweep of the Bruins.

“It was a great bounce back,” Indian Creek head coach Mike Cottis said. “It shows they believe in themselves. These guys walk onto the field and they expect to win.”

Creek (13-1), ranked No. 2 in the latest Ohio Prep Baseball Coaches Association Division III poll, had dropped a close 5-4 decision on the road at perennial power Indian Valley the night before. Thursday’s game started similar to the prior day — some hard hit balls right at people and hits that didn’t drop in. However, they stayed with it, started to be more selective at the plate and finally broke through with a combined eight runs in the third-fifth innings.

Andrew Grimm ON THE RUN — Brooke's Brody Drumm runs to third base after a teammate put the ball in play.

“We hit a lot of balls on the nose early, we did the same thing yesterday at Indian Valley, too,” Cottis said. “They didn’t fall yesterday and they didn’t fall early in this one, but we stayed with it and they started falling for us and we got some big runs.”

James Brothers had a double, single and two RBIs. Hunter Rusnak had a double, single and an RBI, also just missing a homer with a ball that cleared the fence by a lot but was on the wrong side of the foul pole. Sylus Hyde had three hits and three RBIs and Logan Wedlake had a pair of knocks and three RBIs.

Creek also got two of their runs with bases-loaded walks. Creek drew eight free passes in the game.

“The guys were working the count and doing a good job of having good at bats, fouling pitches off and finding good pitches to hit or drawing walks,” Cottis said.

For the Bruins, who struck first in the first inning with a Gino Provenzano RBI single, the Creek line up was simply too much to hold down for seven innings. Provenzano finished with three of Brooke’s four hits in the game.

Andrew Grimm DELIVERY — Creek starter Parker Heath delivers against Brooke. He fired a complete game win.

“It is a hard line ip to keep down,” Brooke head coach Doug Costain said. “My challenge to the pitchers after the game was we have to find ways to work ahead. When it’s 2-0, 3-0, it makes the hitters’ job easier, they’re not guessing in there. They have a great line up and it’s tough on everybody (working from behind in the count).”

The Redskins are just the latest in a tough schedule the Bruins (7-15-1) have battled against this season.

“I’ll put our schedule up against anybody’s,” Costain said. “We have played a lot of really good teams. This is going to hopefully prepare us for the future. I keep telling these guys all of our goals are still ahead of us. These guys keep battling, they don’t quit. They keep playing hard.”

Creek starter Parker Heath settled in after giving up the early run and went the distance, fanning seven and walking two.

“Brooke is a good hitting team and I thought Parker did a great job,” Cottis said. “He settled in after a rocky start. The thing about Parker is he pounds the zone very well and keeps our defense involved.”

UP NEXT

Indian Creek: Returns home today for a big matchup with Carrollton.

Brooke: Has a big game against regional opponent Fairmont Senior on Saturday afternoon at home.

Indian Creek 11, Brooke 1

IC 0-0-2 4-2-0 3 — 11 12 0

B 1-0-0 0-0-0 0 — 1 4 0

INDIAN CREEK (13-1): Heath (WP, CG, 1R, 1ER, 4H, 7K, 2BB) and Rusnak. Rusnak D, S, RBI; Hyde 3S, 3RBIs; J. Brothers D, S, 2RBIs; Wedlake 2S, 3RBIs; Goodwin S; Starkey S; Bright S.

BROOKE (7-15-1): Kuchinski (LP, 3IP, 3R, 3ER, 5H, 2K, 4BB, 1HBP), Lathem (1IP, 5R, 5ER, 2H, 3K, 4BB, 1HBP), Beatty (3IP, 3R, 3ER, 5H, 1K, 0BB) and A. Provenzano. G. Provenzano 3S; Drum S.