ALEXANDRIA, KY — The Polar Bears’ baseball team won their first All “A” title in school history by beating Calvary Christian 13-3 in five innings and beating Bishop Brossart in the finals 12-8.  It was the first time Bracken County had beaten the Mustangs since the 1990s. 

“The last couple years we competed with Brossart. We played well in the All “A” last year and thought we had a really good chance then.

The Polar Bears put a crooked number on the board early, going up 2-0 in the top of the first.  The first inning started with Burkhart on the mound for Bishop Brossart.  He hit Thomas Rudd on the first pitch of the game and later walked Josh Hamilton to put two runners on with no outs. Hank Krift singled up the middle to score two runs.

Krift was the starter on the mound for the Brooksville squad and went three up, three down in the bottom of first against the home-standing Mustangs.

Caleb Sutton started off the top of the second with a single, followed by a dropped third strike to Cole Sharp, putting runners on second and third after two wild pitches. 

Brossart went to the bullpen early and brought in Colin Combs in the second with no outs. However, Bracken County would score those two runners to go up 4-0 after defensive miscues.

Colin Combs put Brossart on the board by hitting a solo homerun to left field to start the bottom of the second, Bracken leading 4-1. 

The Polar Bears would answer back in the top of the third after a lead-off walk to Colin Combess.  He would later come around to score on more miscues by Brossart, putting Bracken up 5-1.

The Bracken offense exploded in the top of the fourth.  Lucas would get a lead-off single and Hamilton would get hit by a pitch.  Krift followed with a double, scoring them both and putting Bracken up 7-1. 

Combess would later get hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Caleb Sutton would hit a double to right field to scoring all three runs, putting Bracken up 10-1.

Bishop Brossart would put fives runs on the board again in the bottom of the fifth to make it a four run game.  Martin hit a lead-off single and Meyer walked.  Robbie Verst and Evan Moore hit back-to-back singles, scoring two runs.  Combs hit into an error, scoring Verst.  Gulley hit into a ground-out, scoring Combs.  

After five innings of play, Bracken County led Bishop Brossart 10-6.

Brandon Bezold was in for Brossart to pitch and started off by giving up and single and got two outs.  However, Bracken would load the bases after Bezold hit two batters.  Thomas Rudd single would extend the Bracken lead to 11-6.

With Hank Krift still pitching, Bracken walked two batters in the bottom of the sixth.  Combs hit a line-drive double to score two runs, allowing Brossart to cut the lead to 11-8. 

Bracken County would score one more insurance run in the top of the seventh after Evan Tarter hit into an error scoring the lead-off walk.  

Bracken County led 12-8 and was three outs away from victory as Josh Hamilton came in to close things out in the bottom of the seventh.  Gulley and Willike hit would hit one-out singles and try to rally back, but a strikeout and fly ball would end the game.

Bracken County improves to 13-3.  Bishop Brossart drops to 9-8.

Bracken County will play at Beechwood on Sunday, April 23rd at 4:00 p.m. in the All “A” Baseball Semi-State round.

BOX SCORE:

Bracken County:

Bishop Brossart: