Brusly didn't get the start it hoped for, but the finish was everything it wanted Friday night in its Division II non select playoff game against North Vermilion.
After falling behind by two runs in the first inning, the top-seeded Panthers clamped down on the No. 16-seeded Patriots as they rallied for a 7-2 win at Brusly.
The win clinched the best-of-three quarterfinal series for Brusly (33-5), which defeated North Vermilion 3-2 in Game 1 on Thursday. Brusly will host the winner between No. 5 Iowa and No. 4 West Ouachita in the semifinals next week.
Brusly got six innings from starter Aubrey St. Angelo, who made his return from an early-season injury last week in the regionals. After giving up four hits and two runs in the top of the first, St. Angelo held the Patriots scoreless for five innings.
"Our guy on the mound had battled some injuries, and he was able to come back last week for the first time in two months," Brusly coach Jason Lemoine said. "We had him on a little bit of a pitch count, but we felt like we were good with him on the mound. He settled down, and in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings he was really pitching."
Brusly got to North Vermilion starter Isaac Russell in the top of the third inning. The Panthers scored four runs on three hits and were helped by two walks and a hit batsman. Coy Purpera had a two-run single while Jeremiah Hogan's two-out hit drove in another run.
Purpera and Josiah Hogan had RBIs in a two-run fifth before Brusly manufactured its last run in the sixth without the benefit of a hit.
"(North Vermilion) barreled up a lot of balls early, but that's a team that's played in three of the last four state championships," Lemoine said. "They play in a tough district, so they've probably seen pitchers like (St. Angelo) all season."
All totaled, St. Angelo gave up six hits, struck out three and walked two in six innings. He left after allowing a lead off single in the seventh and gave way to Cade Rills, who picked up the final three outs.
North Vermilion (20-16), which lost 4-0 to Lutcher in last season's championship game, got singles from three of its first four batters in the bottom of the first. One of those was Alex Landry's RBI single. He would later score on Kevin Marix' two-out single.
"(North Vermilion) is used to facing high-velocity pitchers like me, so I wasn't too upset," St. Angelo said. "They stuck the bat out on a couple of them, and I just told myself, 'They're not going to get any more.' "
