MANLIUS – Brendan Tunink was in cruise control Wednesday at Bureau Valley.

Given a 4-0 lead before he took the mound, the Newman sophomore southpaw ran with it, shutting out Bureau Valley on two hits as the Comets won 4-0 in a Three Rivers Conference East Division game.

Tunink, who struck out seven, said things went better than even planned on a cold, blustery day.

“We were going to go five innings and we were going to bring a reliever in, but I felt pretty good so I just kept going. And then the five-pitch sixth inning helped a lot,” Tunink said.

“Brendan did a good job. He didn’t have good off-speed control early and it’s just such a tough day to hit, so we just told him to pound the zone with fastballs and he did a really good job of that,” Newman coach Kenny Koerner said. “There were some really well-hit balls on both sides, and they just don’t go anywhere with the wind. The key was throwing strikes with fastballs and getting ahead of the count.”

Newman scored four runs on three hits in the top of the first.

Tunink started the rally with a one-out single. Ethan Van Landuit singled and Kory Mullen was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brennen Cook hit a liner into the teeth of the wind that center fielder Justin Kopp tracked down, but dropped on the run, scoring Tunink.

Van Landuit was thrown out at the plate by Sam Rouse on a grounder to third base, but Mason Glaudel singed to right to score Mullen and Cook, and Grant Koerner followed them home when the ball eluded right fielder Logan Johnson.

The four runs in the top of the first were a welcome sight for Tunink.

“It gives you a boatload of confidence to know that you’re winning already instead of 0-0, so you should get all the confidence in the world and pitch the best you can,” he said.

“He’s a sophomore and it’s only his second outing of the year, so that really helped him get in a little bit of a groove early,” Kenny Koerner said.

Tunink walked two batters in the second, but the first, Rouse, was thrown out trying to steal. Logan Johnson followed a walk to Bryson Smith with a double to put runners on second and third. Tunink escaped further trouble by retiring Ethan Freeman on a popout to third and Layton Britt on a flyout to right.

Tunink cruised through the middle innings, retiring 15 straight batters before surrendering a one-out single to Rouse in the seventh. Smith drew a walk, but Tunink fanned Logan Johnson and retired Freeman on a groundout to first to end the game.

“He filled up the zone. We told our guys to be ready to attack. Our hitters did a good job trying to battle him, but he was a little bit better than us,” BV coach Ryan Schisler said.

The Storm coach felt the blustery wind was an ally to pitchers on both sides, including Smith (4 innings) and Adam Johnson (3 innings).

“It’s Bureau Valley, we expect the wind. A cold day like this with the wind at their backs, you feel like the [pitchers] have a little bit of an advantage, and I felt our pitchers threw well, too,” he said. “They got to us in the first inning. After that, things kind of rolled. Bryson did a good job after that first inning and did everything we needed him to. So both guys did a good job. Our defense played a lot better, which was a mission for us today.

“I’ve got no complaints. It’s a good team over there, and they got us today.”

Tunink also led the Comets at the plate with three hits, while Van Landuit added two.

The Comets, who also beat BV on a come-from-behind walk-off win Monday, improved to 6-0 overall, 2-0 in the TRAC East.

“We always have a tough time playing Bureau Valley. They always give us a good game,” Kenny Koerner said. “And to start the conference season off with a couple wins is nice. It’s a tough conference, so getting wins early, getting wins at any time, is hard in this conference.”