Brenden Bratcher didn’t earn a save on Tuesday night, but the junior right-hander might very well have saved Warren East’s season with a masterful inning of relief.

It was the toughest of spots for Bratcher, who was asked to bail the Raiders out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation against Franklin-Simpson in the top of the third inning in Tuesday’s Region 4 semifinals at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

Bratcher did just that, sandwiching two strikeouts around an infield fly out to preserve the Raiders’ two-run lead in what eventually led to a 9-3 victory and a spot in Tuesday’s Region 4 championship against Russell County. Game time is 6 p.m. at Nick Denes Field.

That timely bit of relief work did much more than just squelch the Wildcats’ rally – they had already scored two runs in the inning. Bratcher’s quick work allowed him to get out of the game and let sophomore starter Brooks Vincent re-enter with a fresh slate and kept Bratcher available to start the Raiders’ championship matchup against Russell County.

“He’s a strike thrower, he’ll attack and we trusted him,” Warren East coach Wes Sanford said of Bratcher. “Obviously we trusted him – we put him in that spot. We had no intentions of that point that we might go back to Brooks, but whenever we were close to getting out of that inning, it started crossing my mind like, hey, we might be able to get back in there with Brooks if he can re-gather and re-focus because at that point he was rattled a little bit – you know, he’s a sophomore, first big moment. Once he realized he could make it – it was go down there and throw, see if you can clear your mind – we didn’t even get a chance to talk to him. He started running from the bullpen to the field.”

Warren East (24-14) jumped out to an early lead, plating four runs in the bottom of the first inning against Wildcats starting pitcher Brevin Scott. The right-hander, a Murray State signee, gave up an RBI double to Tray Price to open the scoring after Bratcher drew a leadoff walk.

Price stole home on a delayed steal after Kaiven Hinton drew a throw in stealing second, then the Raiders plated another run off an error before Carter Bessette capped the four-run rally with an RBI single.

Vincent kept Franklin-Simpson (22-15) quiet through the first two innings, but the sophomore ran into trouble in the top of the third. After hitting a batter to open the inning and giving up a single to Scott before walking another batter, Vincent lost the strike zone and walked in consecutive batters to force in two runs.

That prompted East to turn to Bratcher for relief, and the righty got a pair of swinging strikeouts and a pop-up to shut down the threat.

“Really, coming into the inning I was just thinking throw strikes because I know our fielders can do the job and we’re gonna get outs,” Bratcher said. “And then after that, after I finished that inning, I think we had enough confidence in Brooks to come back and he did a good job the rest of the game.”

The Raiders got a run back in the bottom of the third when Grant White slashed a double to right-center field, then scored on an error.

The Wildcats pulled closer in the fifth on a Braxton Jenkins RBI groundout, making it a 5-3 game.

Warren East again answered with a run on Price’s RBI groundout.

A three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth broke the game open for the Raiders as Hinton brought in a run with a base-loaded sacrifice fly and Ayden Barrick followed with a two-run double to set the final score.

Vincent, who earned the win after pitching five innings and allowing three runs (two earned) while striking out four, gave way to Price for the final inning. The senior righty opened with a strikeout before giving up a single to Layne Alford, then closed out the win with back-to-back strikeouts.

“I love pitching, especially in the moments like that when the tension’s high in a semifinal game,” Price said. “I feed off that.”

Price and Barrick drove in two runs apiece to lead the Raiders, who were held to just four hits but drew six walks and had two batters hit by pitches.

“Our goal was to just make him fight as much as we could and not give him strikeouts and not chase as much,” Sanford said of Scott, who took the loss. “Obviously he’s got really good stuff. I mean, he’s going to Murray State for a reason. Our goal was to just make him work as much as we could. Our guys did a great job.”

FSHS 002 010 0 – 3 4 4

WEHS 401 103 x – 9 4 1

WP: Vincent LP: Scott