Brandywine’s Nicholas Bailey applies a tag to a Schererville runner during Tuesday’s quaterfinal game. (The Daily News/Amelio Rodriguez)

By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ

Dowagiac Daily News

NILES — The host team from Brandywine got all it wanted and then some from the Northern Indiana state champion team from Schererville in the Ohio Valley Regional quarterfinals Tuesday at Firemen’s Youth Park, losing 26-4.

Schererville came into the game as the No. 1 seed, based on runs allowed, but it was the runs scored that was the most impressive on this day.

Brandywine went down in order in each of the first two innings as it saw itself fall behind 2-0 in the first inning, but managed to keep the team from Schererville off the board in the second inning.

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the third, Brandywine started to get a little momentum of its own as it got runners on second and third with one out.

However, it only managed to get one run across the plate and trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom half of the inning.

That’s when every cliché in the book became applicable to Brandywine’s fortunes in the next half inning.

Phrases like ‘they hit a wall,’ ‘they ran into a buzz saw,’ ‘the wheels fell off,’ ‘the bottom dropped out.’

You get the picture.

In the bottom of the third inning, Schererville sent 30 batters to the plate, had 24 of them cross home plate safely and left the bases loaded to end the inning. That brought the score to 26-1.

Brandywine came to bat in the top of the fourth inning knowing it was in trouble, but the kids never gave up. They kept their chins held high and came out swinging.

Jacob Ruelle led off the inning with a single and Toby Fox reached on an error. Max Douglass then reached on an error, scoring Ruelle. Nicholas Bailey drove the ball to the opposite field for a double to the wall scoring Fox. Nathan Kemp then reached base safely, scoring Douglass.

The Brandywine “rally” would come to a halt with a double play to end the game, eliminating the host team from the tournament with a record of 2-3.

Schererville defeated Harris Township in the second semifinal and faces Southeastern Lexington for the title today.