Brentwood Rides High Drama to District Championship

LADUE — Brentwood earned its first district championship in 17 years on Saturday with a 4-3 win over rival Maplewood-Richmond Heights in the finals of the Class 2 District 5 Tournament at Ladue Horton Watkins High.

In the bottom of the eighth, after Brentwood junior Kevin Smith crushed a triple to deep right field, the Blue Devils (8-14, 3-6) opted to intentionally walk senior Ryan Marshall and freshman Dylan McGehee. That brought junior Tyler Jones to the plate with only one out.

Jones tapped a swinging bunt just a few feet in front of home plate toward MRH pitcher Kevin Sapp, who tossed the ball to catcher Samuel Martin. Smith slid into home and was called safe as Martin couldn't hang on to the ball.

"All I told Tyler was to put a bat on the baseball," Brentwood (16-6, 7-2) coach Mike Imergoot said.

“You have to start running on first contact,” Smith said. “I started sprinting and then took a big slide. When I got home all I could feel was a bunch of hitting on my head.”

Imergoot said his team has “battled all year.”

“They never, ever quit,” he said. “This is our first district title we’ve had in 17 years and I’m very proud of them.”

In a back-and-forth battle between two tough teams, it was Smith's triple that made the difference.

"The key was Kevin tripling. You got to get that guy as close to home as you can, because then any kind of mistakes—as we saw—win a ball game," Imergoot said.

"I was just thinking, 'I got to get a hit, I got to get a hit,’" Smith said. "I looked fastball and I hit it pretty square."

The contest had many momentum swings, and the Eagles’ clutch hitting proved to be a factor. The Blue Devils established a 1-0 lead in the first inning due to an unearned run. MRH maintained the lead until Marshall’s one-run single in the fourth inning tied the game.

The game wouldn’t be tied for long. In the fifth inning, MRH shortstop KaShon Hagens smacked a ground ball toward first base. He was thrown out in a routine play, but senior Charles Boclair ran home to make the score 2-1.

The fifth would prove to be a big inning for Brentwood. Franklin Lowell led off with a single. He was replaced by pinch runner Jacob Zivic, who stole second base. Zivic moved to third when Blake Kelley grounded out. Nick Featherson hit a line drive into center field that was caught by the Blue Devils’ Zachary Joyce, but Zivic had more than enough time to come home and tie the score at 2. Next up was senior pitcher Ryan Jones, who hit a home run over the left-field fence to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

Brentwood still held a 3-2 advantage in the seventh inning, but the Blue Devils battled back in the seventh. Freshman Richard Rasmussen reached first on an error by shortstop Smith and scored after Boclair hit a single to tie the game.

Ryan Jones was lights out, striking out five while allowing five hits, no earned runs and two walks in seven-plus innings for Brentwood. Smith replaced Jones in the eighth inning.

“He’s (Jones) a bulldog and when he got to (pitch) 103 I said ‘that’s enough. Kevin (Smith) is fresh,’” Imgergoot said. “Kevin is my ace No. 1A. Ryan was very angry at me and I said ‘Ryan this is about the team and we’re going to win it for you’. Kevin came in and threw bullets.”

Sapp was as dominant as he was all season in the seventh, giving the Blue Devils three quick outs. He pitched all eight innings for the Blue Devils, who committed five errors in the contest.

“That stuff adds up,” Maplewood coach Jonathan Webb said. “But that is a really good team over there. We were right there and we had our chances, but it didn’t go that way.”

MRH failed to capitalize on a leadoff single by junior Brad Swedlund in the eighth. Smith struck out Martin and senior Tony Biedenstein before Brentwood catcher Frank Lowe threw out Swedlund at third base to end the inning.

Smith will take the mound on Monday when the Eagles host New Bloomfield (14-4), the District 6 champions, at 5 p.m. at .