Brashear Baseball Wins State Semi-Final June 2, 2010

The Tigers advance to Class 1 championship game with 3-2 win over Cooter.

Brashear made their 1st ever final four appearance Wednesday June 2, 2010 facing 7th ranked Cooter. The Tigers showed their defense early on as catcher Cody Snelling erased a first inning walk by gunning down the runner as they tried to steal 2nd. Both teams managed to put the ball in play, but neither could score until the bottom of the 3rd when Hayden Housman reached on an error. Nick Gordon reached next, but hit into a fielder's choice that forced Housman out at 2nd. Gordon reached 2nd as Cooter made a wild throw to 1st trying to turn the double play. Adam Songer then singled to right driving in Gordon. Nick Thomas drew a walk, then Matt Thomas singled, driving in Songer to give Brashear a 2-0 lead. Cooter answered in the top of the 4th turning a pair of hits and a pair of errors into a 2-2 game. Hayden Housman got things going again for Brashear in the bottom of the 4th drawing a 1-out walk. Nick Gordon followed with a single that moved Housman to 2nd. Adam Songer hit into a fielder's choice that forced Gordon at 2nd, but Housman never stopped running and slide into home ahead of the tag to put Brashear up 3-2. Cooter kept the pressure on in the late innings, but Brashear ended the 5th with a 6-4-3 double play with a runner aboard. Brashear pitcher Matt Thomas helped himself defensively in the top of the 6th as a high chopper headed to the left side tipped off his glove, but Thomas grabbed it bare-handed on the bounce and spun in mid-air with a "hail Mary" throw that stretched 6' 7" first baseman Jay Scudder to the limit, but got the runner in a close play. After the next batter singled, Thomas ended the threat with a pair of strikeouts. Cooter advanced a runner to 3rd in the top of the 7th, but Thomas struck out the final batter to send Brashear to the title game against Concordia. Thomas picked up the win striking out 9 batters.