Baseball gets rematch against No. 1 Mesquite

By Justin Janssen '11

After getting blown out 14-4 to Hamilton May 7, the Brophy Broncos baseball team is going to need to ride a lot of magic to advance in the 5A-I tournament.

There's an old saying "it's hard to beat a team twice", but Brophy will twice need to beat a team twice (not a typo)- just in the postseason to advance to the championship game.

Not exactly a nice birthday present for Dave Graybill '12.

No. 9 Brophy (21-9) defeated No. 1 Mesquite (28-4) 5-3 May 3 in the second round behind a furious rally in the sixth and seventh innings.

Dan Winkler '11 hit the tying RBI double in the sixth scoring Ryan Grant ’12, who pinch-ran for catcher Jon Rapisarda '12 after he started the inning with a double down the left field line.

Rapisarda delivered the go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the seventh inning.

Two batters later, Winkler, the team’s vocal leader, put the game out of reach with a two-RBI bases-loaded single.

But when Brophy and Mesquite play again May 10, in the loser's bracket, the Broncos will not have the luxury of facing Mesquite's relievers.

Instead, Brophy will have to face a man who has lost once in the past two seasons.

The Tigers will start ace Zach Davies (11-0, 1.82 ERA) against Brophy.

Davies' pitching gives him notoriety, but he almost beat the Broncos with his bat.

Trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning, Davies put Mesquite ahead with a two-run homer, chasing Brophy starter Steven Oleksak '13.

If Brophy overcomes Davies and No. 1 Mesquite, they will play No. 4 Hamilton (25-6) May 12 for the right to advance to the title game.

But Brophy would need to beat Hamilton not just once, but twice, on the same day, to advance.

Hamilton crushed the Broncos 14-4 May 7, forcing a run-rule to end the game in six innings.

The Huskies, winners of the Fiesta Region, also defeated Brophy twice in the regular season.