Brewster’s Hit Takes Care of No. 1 Westlake

Jonathon Brewster’s two-out run-scoring single in the seventh inning gave Notre Dame High a 5-4 victory over undefeated Westlake in a nonleague baseball game Wednesday at Notre Dame.

Ryan McCarthy of Westlake walked James Rivero to lead off the seventh and Rivero went to second base on a sacrifice by Brendan Ryan. After intentionally walking Chris Dickerson, McCarthy struck out Matt Cunningham before Brewster delivered.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play and give us a chance to win the game,” Brewster said. “We knew they are a great team and we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could play with them.”

The Warriors (16-1), ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times and ranked No. 8 in the nation by Baseball America magazine, took a 4-3 lead in the sixth on Cory Taillon’s sacrifice fly.

Luke Riordan’s run-scoring single tied the score earlier in the inning.

Daniel Browne pitched 5 2/3 inning for Notre Dame, allowing three earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and seven walks.

“We didn’t play great and they didn’t play great,” Coach Tom Dill of Notre Dame said. “We both made some mistakes. But it’s great to play a team like them and be able to say we were the first team to beat them.

“I’ve been here nine years and this is the first time we’ve ever played them. This is the kind of game that helps to get you ready for the playoffs.”

Notre Dame (11-5), ranked No. 9 by The Times, got even, 4-4, in the sixth when Brewster stole third and scored on a wild throw by catcher Michael Nickeas.

McCarthy (2-1) replaced Chris White with two on and two out, and Jesse Kozlowski snared a smash by Alec Moss and stepped on first base to end the Knights’ rally.

“He was on his own, I didn’t call a steal there,” Dill said of Brewster’s base-running gamble. “But he’s one of three players who has the green light to go whenever he has an opportunity. In a tight game like that, if you play aggressive, sometimes you get a good break and that’s what happened.”

The Knights got to Tyler Adamczyk of Westlake early. Dickerson and Lee Johnson hit run-scoring singles in the first and Mike Barron’s RBI grounder in the second gave Notre Dame a 3-0 lead.

Adamczyk allowed four hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking two.

Westlake closed to within 3-2 in the fifth on Taillon’s RBI double and Nickeas’ infield single that scored Taillon from third.

“I’m not relieved that we finally lost, you don’t learn from losing,” Coach Chuck Berrington of Westlake said. “But at the same time, we didn’t lose a [Southern Section] title or a league championship. We lost a baseball game. I’m extremely proud of the way we battled because that’s a quality team we were playing.”

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* SHIELDS RETURNS: Hart High’s Jamie Shields pitches two scoreless innings in his return from back injury. Page 13