Millard North beats Lincoln Southeast 4-2

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BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

There was no panic among the Millard North players when Lincoln Southeast scored a pair of first-inning runs.

The Mustangs rallied to earn a 4-2 victory over Southeast and advance to a 1 p.m. semifinal game with Millard West at Haymarket Park.

Southeast will face Lincoln North Star at 7 p.m. at Sherman Field in an elimination game.

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Millard North vs Southeast

Southeast started the first inning ahead, but lost the lead in the third and never got it back. (Anthony Roberts / JournalStar.com)...

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“We’ve been getting off to rough starts, so we’re used to it,” said third baseman Brett Koehn. “We just had to turn it around. We got a little frustrated when we made some mistakes in the first inning.

“We’ve been a pretty good defensive team all year, and we just wanted to prove to everybody that we win with our defense.”

Koehn had a big hand in convincing Southeast coach Randy Brolhorst.

“We put the ball in play, but their third baseman made four or five great plays,” said Brolhorst. “We played at-’em ball. Every time we hit it hard, it was right at them and they made the plays.

“We booted a ground ball and give them three runs. If we field that, it’s a completely different ball game and we do a lot of things differently.”

The Knights struck for both of their runs in the first inning. Nathan Cech reached on an error and came home when Jaydee Jurgensen got a wind-blown double over the left fielder’s head. Jurgensen came home on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Darlington.

The Mustangs got a run back in the first when Blake Brisson walked, stole second and third, and scored on a double by Ryan Sheetz.

Millard North took the lead in the third with three unearned runs. A two-out error allowed Brady Hohl to score, and then Luke Abkes slapped a two-run single to left.

Southeast failed to capitalize on opportunities when they left the bases loaded in the second and stranded two in the third inning.

“We gave ourselves a chance, and that’s all you can ask for,” said Brolhorst.

Ben Homer picked up the win, his sixth of the year. He scattered five hits, allowing just one after the first three innings.

“I settled in. My curve started working in the third or fourth inning,” he said. “My curve goes into the wind, so it took awhile to adjust to that.”

Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.