Trent Pobst's two-run homer lifts Scott City baseball team past Notre Dame

Trent Pobst couldn't have picked a better time to bring the lumber.

The Scott City senior blasted an 0-2 pitch over the left-field fence with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, delivering a two-run homer that propelled the Rams to a 4-1 victory over host Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Scott City's Braden Cox jumps to his feet after sliding into home plate past Notre Dame's Trevor Haas in the fourth inning Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at Notre Dame Regional High School.Glenn Landberg

Pobst led Scott City (12-6) at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

"He's getting to where he needs to be. He's getting in a zone," Scott City coach Jim May said. "When he gets in it, he's tough to pitch to."

The game featured stellar play on the mound from both sides.

Rams starter Braden Cox went the distance for the first time this season to secure the victory. The junior ace fanned six batters and walked one, allowing one earned run on seven hits.

"Coming off after the sixth inning, I asked him how he felt, and he said, 'I feel great.' So I knew he wanted to finish," May said about Cox. "It seemed like he was having trouble with his grip on one of his pitches early in the game, but he settled his nerves. I know he was pretty amped up because he wanted to throw well, and he settled down and threw a great game."

Noah Brown was tagged with the loss for Notre Dame (8-5). He struck out six and walked one over 5 2/3 innings, giving up three earned runs -- all earned -- on seven hits.

Brown also helped himself at the plate with a leadoff double in the bottom of the third. He was replaced by courtesy runner Noah Arnzen, who advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Tyler Essner to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage.

"As a sophomore, he's really stepping up into a big role for us with the injuries we've had," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "I thought he did a tremendous job against a quality team today. He hung in there and battled."

Scott City tied the game at 1-all in the top of the fourth. Cox was issued a one-out walk before a balk moved him into scoring position, and Pobst followed with an RBI single to right, his second hit of the game.

Brown appeared ready to coast through the top of the sixth, but a two-out single by Cox and a stolen base brought the hot-hitting Pobst back to the plate with a chance to give the Rams the lead. Pobst came through with a two-run shot that gave Scott City a 3-1 lead.

Notre Dame's Noah Brown pitches to a Scott City batter in the sixth inning Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at Notre Dame Regional High School.Glenn Landberg

"We got put in a tough spot with one of the better hitters up there. ... You've got to give those guys credit. Pobst just stayed in there and drove the baseball out of the ball park," Graviett said. "I thought it was more on them, those two guys stepping up and getting big hits, than anything that Noah did."

Drew Short followed with a single, and Jordan Kluesner, who finished 2-for-3, contributed a double down the left-field line. The four straight hits prompted a pitching change, as Brown was replaced by Ross Essner, who got a strikeout to retire the side.

"We really only wanted five [innings] out of him, but he was throwing so well that we went out there and pushed him for that sixth," Graviett said about Brown. "He'll learn. That's something that in two years is going to be a positive for him. He's getting a lot of experience on the mound for us early on in the season."

Cox worked around a pair of one-out singles in the bottom of the sixth and retired his last five batters, including the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 hitters in the bottom of the seventh, to close out the win. Hunter Copeland scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh for Scott City.

Garrett Siebert and Trevor Haas each finished with a pair of singles for Notre Dame, which finished with seven hits and stranded eight runners.

The Bulldogs have lost four of their last five and are riding a three-game losing streak, but Graviett said he anticipated his team was going to face some hurdles at the start of the season.

"We talked about it. We could go through stretches, with as good of a schedule as we're going to play this year, that we could have these type of things," Graviett said, "but they've just got to respond to it and bounce back up. ... I didn't think we competed very well over the weekend, so I thought today we came back and competed against a good team.

Scott City's Jordan Kluesner talks with a teammate during a Notre Dame pitching change in the seventh inning Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at Notre Dame Regional High School.Glenn Landberg

We've just got to take it forward. We were finding ways to win early in the year, and we've just kind of got to bring that back."

Both teams reached state championship games last season -- the Rams finished second in Class 3 while the Bulldogs were state champions in Class 4. Notre Dame went on the road and trounced Scott City 15-1 a year ago, but May was far more pleased with his team's poise this time around.

"They're a quality opponent and one of the best teams in the state, so you're going to have to come in here and play really well," May said. "For the most part, we stayed focused for seven innings. That's been our problem so far this year is that sometimes when we play down a little bit, we lose sight of what we're trying to do, but it seems like when we play a really good team, we lock in."

Scott City 000 102 1 -- 4 8 1

Notre Dame 001 000 0 -- 1 7 1

WP -- Braden Cox. LP -- Noah Brown. 2B -- Jordan Kluesner (SC), Brown (ND). HR -- Trent Pobst (SC). Multiple hits -- Scott City: Pobst 3-4, Kluesner 2-3; Notre Dame: Trevor Haas 2-3, Garrett Siebert 2-4.