Notre Dame advances to Class 4 quarterfinals with 10-inning win

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Notre Dame senior shortstop Ross Essner was looking for a way to amend for arguably the ugliest throw of Wednesday's Class 4 sectional against North County at Yanks Field.

Essner cut off a throw from left fielder Nick Lindsey after an RBI single by the Raiders' Bryan McKenzy had tied the game in the fifth inning and looked to have base runner Drew Forney dead to rights going to third base. Essner's short flip not only missed third baseman Sam Dirnberger wide right, but it rolled into the Bulldogs' dugout, allowing Forney to score the go-ahead run.

"I was wanting to get it done with my bat, but that sure didn't happen today," said Essner with a smile after a 1-for-5 day at the plate. "Hopefully it will come together tomorrow. I wanted to help my team out and get the win."

Notre Dame's Ross Essner makes the throw to first base for an out against North County in the first inning of a Class 4 sectional Wednesday, May 25, 2016 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.Glenn Landberg

While Essner wasn't able to redeem himself at the plate, he did so on the mound, using the same right arm that betrayed him earlier.

He helped keep Notre Dame's season alive, extricating himself and his squad from a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth inning, allowing the Bulldogs to live for another day by emerging with a thrilling 6-2 victory in 10 innings.

"Another day" arrives at 5 p.m. today when Notre Dame (18-9), the defending state champion, faces MICDS (18-7) in a Class 4 quarterfinal.

Notre Dame senior Tyler Essner and North County sophomore Sean Pruneau locked horns in a battle of left-handers over the first eight-plus innings. The Bulldogs had pulled even in the sixth inning when Sam Dirnberger's sharp grounder to the shortstop side of second base was booted, plating Nick Lindsay, who advanced to third on a passed ball with two outs.

Both starters were lifted in an eventful ninth inning, where Ross Essner found some grunt work on the mound. He entered after Tyler Essner, who had struck out five Raiders and allowed just four hits, issued his second walk of the game to start the ninth.

Ross Essner first managed to get a dangerous Pruneau, who already had two doubles, to bounce into a fielder's choice, before yielding a double down the left-field line to Forney. Pruneau, who had been lifted for courtesy runners earlier in the game, advanced to third with the winning run, and Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett elected to load the bases with an intentional walk to senior Jayden Weible, who will be playing baseball next year at Mineral Area College.

Essner released grunts with the next four pitches, the latter of which McKenzie unsuccessfully flailed at low and away for the third strike.

Essner promptly pumped in two strikes to No. 9 hitter Cole Ziegler before getting him to pop out to short to end the possible season-ending threat.

"I just didn't want to lose," Essner said. "It came down within me, and I was throwing a lot harder than I usually do, I guess. I just wanted to win, and it came out there in the ninth."

He pitched around a leadoff error in the 10th inning, retiring the next three batters, including a called third strike for the final out.

Notre Dame's Garrett Siebert connects with the ball in the fifth inning against North County during a Class 4 sectional Wednesday, May 25, 2016 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.Glenn Landberg

"Ross, oh my gosh, I've never been more proud of Ross than I am right now," Tyler Essner said. "I'm so glad he came in and did what he did."

The Bulldogs responded by breaking loose for four two-out runs in the 10th inning, with a two-out throwing error plating the first run and opening the door for a run-scoring single by junior Garrett Siebert and a bases-loaded, two-run single by senior Jake Edwards.

Up to that point, the Bulldogs had stranded 12 runners in the game. They never were retired in order, something which Tyler Essner had done five times to the Raiders in eight innings.

"That's why it looks like it wasn't meant to be today," Graviett said. "We just couldn't get the big hit to get it done. With Tyler throwing as well as he did, it just looked like a bad scenario for us was about to happen. We just kept clawing away until we finally got that big hit and put up some runs in the 10th inning."

Notre Dame's Nicholas Lindsay celebrates after scoring in the sixth inning against North County during a Class 4 sectional Wednesday, May 25, 2016 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.Glenn Landberg

The 10th inning started innocently enough, as Ben Womack popped up the first pitch by hard-throwing freshman reliever Colten Poorman, who then walked Dirnberger before Tyler Essner sent a soft liner to the shortstop for the second out of the inning. Ross Essner drew a four-pitch walk to move Womack up to second, and junior Winston Welter sent a chopper on the artificial surface toward shortstop that was cut off by third baseman Scott Miller and thrown wildly past first. Womack scored on the error, the second of the game by North County.

Siebert, who had a two-run, walkoff home run to beat Kennett in the district championship game, said the error and run helped relax the Bulldogs.

"We just had some energy waiting to play," Siebert said about a game originally scheduled for Tuesday in Bonne Terre, Missouri, but pushed back and relocated due to rain and possibility for more. "That rainout yesterday pushed it back a little bit, but today we were hoping to come through early, but eventually we did. I'm glad that happened."

Welter was 3-for-6 for the Bulldogs, who had 14 hits.

"We were just waiting for that big hit, and we didn't just pound it," Graviett said. "We just found a couple flairs that inning, but it was a way to get us going and get some confidence. Jake Edwards, that's probably the biggest hit of the year. [North County] is very talented and had the top of the order coming up. I don't know if two would have been enough with them coming in fighting. Four just kind of took the wind out of their sails and put us in a good situation."

Notre Dame's Tyler Essner pitches to a North County batter in the first inning of a Class 4 sectional Wednesday, May 25, 2016 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.Glenn Landberg

Notre Dame scored the game's first run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Trevor Haas.

Edwards, Haas and Womack all had two hits apiece.

"We weren't able to capitalize on most of those opportunities, but we kept throwing good pitches out on the mound and making good plays," Edwards said. "It makes it a lot easier when you have good defense to help the offense."

Tyler Essner, the main returner from last year's pitching staff, limited the damage by striking out the side in the Raiders' two-run fifth.

"In a game where it's that close, going extra innings, you take what you get and you're happy with it," Tyler Essner said. "A pretty intense game. We'll take it."

The sectional contest was a far different scenario from a year ago, when the Bulldogs thumped Potosi 11-0 in the sectional round and did not have a game closer than seven runs during the postseason, outscoring the opposition 76-11 from the onset of district play through a 17-0 trouncing of Sullivan in the state championship game. Ross Essner is the lone returning starter from that team.

"This is what you have to expect at this point," Graviett said. "Last year, we had some games toward the end of the year kind of end up in blowout situations, but this is more high school baseball, what it's about. You have good teams and everyone is throwing their top one or two pitchers at you. It's just going to be a battle."

Notre Dame 001 001 000 4 -- 6 14 2

North County 000 020 000 0 -- 2 5 2

WP -- Ross Essner. LP -- Colten Poorman. 2B -- Sean Pruneau 2 (NC), Drew Forney (NC). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Winston Welter 3-6, Trevor Haas 2-4, Jake Edwards 2-3, Ben Womack 2-3; North County: Pruneau 2-4, Forney 2-4.