Brookhaven Wins 2, to Meet Eastfield in District Championship
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas College Cedar Valley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Dallas College Brookhaven | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | X | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas College Mountain View | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 1 |
| Dallas College Brookhaven | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 3 |
Dallas College Cedar Valley
Dallas College Mountain View
Dallas College Brookhaven
MESQUITE, Texas – Dallas College Brookhaven bounced back from a Day 1 loss to win two games Friday in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South Central District. The second-seeded Bears beat Dallas College Cedar Valley 12-3 in seven innings before putting away Dallas College Mountain View 17-9 in seven innings in the elimination semifinal.
The semifinal win sends the Bears on to Saturday's 11 a.m. championship, where they will need to beat No. 1 nationally-ranked and host Dallas College Eastfield twice to advance to the NJCAA Division III World Series.
"Man, we needed this a lot," Brookhaven's Payton Stephenson said after falling a double shy of the cycle in the second game. "A lot of energy fueled for us for tomorrow. I'm just thanking the Lord for another day."
The Bears, whose two wins Friday halted a two-game skid and losses in three of its previous four. The lone win during that late-season stretch was a 14-10 victory at Eastfield.
Brookhaven sprinted past Cedar Valley in their first win of the day behind the pitching of Aidan Baker.
"I had a lot of movement on the ball today, so it worked pretty well for me," Baker said. "Whenever you got run support like that, you don't have to go out there and be nervous about anything or struggle with anything. Just go out there and throw the baseball. They put up three on me in two of the innings. Whenever we have the run support, I don't even worry about that.
"Keep winning, keep winning. That's the name of the game."
The Bears did that twice when facing elimination. Now they live to see another Saturday of baseball.
Brookhaven (26-28) beat Eastfield (43-13) twice during the regular season. The Bears will need to do it again on Saturday to extend their season.
"Pitchers did amazing," Stephenson said. "We had a couple innings there that was iffy, but we stuck together, played as a team, and when we needed a hit, we got a hit. This is everything we wanted right here at the tip of our fingers."