[Stardust]

LEXINGTON – Runs have been hard to come by this baseball season against the Louisville St. Xavier pitching staff and while that was certainly the case for Bishop Brossart through the first five innings of Wednesday night’s state quarterfinal game, things changed dramatically in the bottom of the sixth.
Brossart, which had managed just one run on two hits through the first five innings, scored four times on four hits in the bottom of the sixth to rally from a 3-1 deficit, and sophomore Nate Verst finished off a complete-game, five-hitter as the Mustangs pulled off a 5-3 upset at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.
Brossart (27-12), which is participating in its first ever Kentucky High School Athletic Association state baseball tournament and has a male enrollment of 162, advances to Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game against the winner of Wednesday night’s Woodford County/South Warren quarterfinal game.
St. Xavier (30-12), which has an all-male enrollment of about 1,400, finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the state coaches’ association top-25 poll and was the highest-ranked team in the state tournament. The Tigers entered the state tournament with a team ERA of 1.58 against an extremely tough schedule and had held 28 of its first 41 opponents to two runs or less, including a 4-0 first-round win over Mercer County on Monday.
“I know it’s David vs. Goliath basically with school size, but these guys aren’t fazed,” said first-year Brossart coach Ron Verst, whose is the cousin of Nate Verst’s father. “They know we can play with anybody and that’s the confidence they have right now. I knew our last shot was going to be that sixth inning. We had the top of the lineup up and 3-4-5 have come through all year, so if we could get Jared Hahn to set the table we had a shot.”
Hahn, the team’s leadoff batter, drew a four-pitch walk from St. Xavier starter Ben Britt, who entered the game with an 8-0 record and 1.56 ERA and needed just 72 pitches (48 of which were strikes) to cruise through the first five innings.
After Nate Verst struck out, Zach Fardo blooped a single to center putting runners at first and second. The left-handed Britt battled back from a 2-0 count to Brossart junior catcher Tanner Norton by getting two straight strikes on breaking balls against the left-handed hitting Norton, who then drilled the next pitch into left for a double that scored both Hahn and Fardo to tie the score at 3-3.
“I was thinking curveball the whole way and all I was trying to do was hit one back up the middle,” said Norton.
Norton’s hit chased Britt, and after reliever Jack Cleary fell behind Brossart senior Trevor Bezold 2-0, Bezold, who was moved from outfield to shortstop for Wednesday’s game, was then walked intentionally.
Senior first baseman Bobby Roderick, who drove in the winning run with a base-loaded walk in Brossart’s 2-1 10th Region semifinal win over George Rogers Clark after Bezold had been walked intentionally, followed by drilling Cleary’s first pitch into left field for a base hit. Ron Verst gambled to score pinch-runner Zach Martin, and when St. Xavier left fielder Conrad Ulmer bobbled the ball, Martin scored without a throw to put Brossart up, 4-3.
“I think we have to put the pressure on them and see if they can bobble the ball and see if we can get the run in and we did,” said Verst.
Roderick said he expected Bezold, who leads Brossart in RBI on the season, to be walked intentionally.
“They’ve done it a few times this year and it doesn’t really bother me, I just go up there and hit,” said Roderick. “I was just looking for a fastball as always and got it first pitch. It feels great to help the team move on to another round.”
Sophomore left fielder Erik Rieger drove home an insurance run with a two-out single to center to plate Bezold.
St. Xavier had taken a 3-0 lead with three runs in the fourth, two of which were unearned. Britt drove home the final two runs with ground-rule double to left.
Brossart got a run in the fourth when Nate Verst singled to lead off the inning with the Mustangs’ first hit of the game and two outs later Bezold scored Verst’s courtesy runner, Clay Kramer, with a double to left center.
Nate Verst faced the minimum nine batters over the final three innings as a walk he allowed in the fifth was erased when he picked the runner off, and a walk he allowed in the sixth was erased when Norton cut the runner down stealing. Verst allowed five hits, three walks and struck out four to improve his record to 10-0 on the season.
“That’s the best he’s thrown all year,” said Norton. “As long as we keep fighting and keep our heads in the game we can win any game no matter how much we’re down by. I think as long as we come prepared we can beat anybody.”http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...306060118/