Breck baseball earns runner-up honors in sections

Breck’s baseball season came to an end last week falling one game short of the state tournament. The team defeated Southwest Christian in the Section 5AA semifinals before falling to Rockford in two losses on June 6 in the section championship.

Final

As the No. 4 seed, Breck entered the section final set to face third seed Rockford, who came out of the elimination bracket, on June 6. Rockford’s path to the final meant that they would have to win twice to clinch the championship, while Breck needed one win and could move on even with a loss in the first game. That exact challenge was set up for the Mustangs after Rockford won game one 7-2 to force game two.

Rockford took the lead early and held on to it, surviving an RBI by Breck’s Ben Amato for Thomas Belman in the bottom of the fourth and a run off a passed ball by Nate Miller in the bottom of the fifth.

The two teams played another game the same night to determine the final winner of the Section 5AA championship, with Rockford winning again, this time 9-2, to end Breck’s season.

Semifinal

Having knocked out top-seeded Holy Family the week before, Breck stayed strong at the start of the last week with a 4-1 win over second-seeded Southwest Christian in the championship bracket semifinal to earn a place in the final.

The Mustangs took an early lead through Nate Miller, scoring a run off a pitching error after stealing second and advancing to third in the top of the first. Liam Cavanaugh then got home on a passed ball. A Max Aronson RBI double opened the way for a third run in the top of the sixth.

Breck was strong defensively too and Colin Mitchell was crisp in a complete game on the mound against Southwest Christian.

Breck will graduate seven seniors this season, including Noah Levinson, Aronson, Zach Huotari, Belman, Ethan Paster, Miller and Liam Devlin.