Marriotts Ridge third basemen Nick Brown was frustrated with his first three at-bats, including two strikeouts. But with the bases loaded and the score tied in Thursday’s regional quarterfinal against Howard, Brown stopped guessing and quickly snapped out of that funk.

He crushed a first-pitch fastball to deep center field for a bases-clearing double in the fifth. The confident slugger was just getting started, attacking the first pitch in each at-bat and lacing another RBI double in the sixth and an RBI single in the seventh.

Brown’s late-game surge sparked an offensive explosion of nine runs in the final three innings as the Mustangs raced past fourth-seeded Howard, 16-10. No. 5 seed Marriotts Ridge advances to Saturday’s Class 3A South Region I semifinal against top seed Northeast-AA.

“I just wanted to get up there and just hit the ball,” Brown said. “I just wanted to get up there, find a hole and get something going for the guys. I just wanted to keep stuff going. I didn’t want to stop with just that one hit, get more runs on the board and secure the win.”

Before Brown could put the Mustangs ahead, reliever JP Yeich entered in a difficult spot in the bottom of the fourth. Howard had multiple runners on and was buzzing, looking to take its first lead after battling back from an early deficit.

Yeich isn’t an overpowering pitcher, but the left-hander consistently threw strikes and presented the Lions with a different look.

He stabilized things and got Dominic Alves to fly out to left to keep the game tied, which proved to be an important momentum swing.

Marriotts Ridge (10-10) responded with four runs in the fifth, keyed by Brown’s big hit, and never relinquished the lead. Yeich followed that up in the bottom of the fifth by retiring Howard’s top three hitters in order, the only 1-2-3 inning of the afternoon.

After settling things down on the mound, Yeich helped his own cause in the sixth. With the bases loaded once again, he launched a triple to deep right field that broke the game open and extended the Mustangs’ advantage to eight.

“I am very big on watching the warmups and how the pitchers pitch to the batters before me,” Yeich said. “I don’t take a whole lot of warmup swings. I saw a lot of fastballs, and so, I was just sitting on the fastball, and I got it. I wasn’t late on it.”

Marriotts Ridge came out of the gates mashing with six runs on eight hits in the opening two innings. The Mustangs jumped on Howard starter Dylan Abrahams and looked poised to run away with it. Jonah Obitz, Owen Snow, Wyatt Anderson, Malcolm Parson and Zach Magee provided an early jolt offensively.

However, Howard began to chip away in the second and ultimately tied the game at 7 in the third with Austin Proescher and Nate Hedgedus each driving in a pair of runs to lead the rally.

While the Lions surged in the middle innings, they were unable to sustain it. Howard (8-9) showed signs of life with three runs in the seventh but was unable to climb out of the nine-run hole. Marriotts Ridge meanwhile, showcased why it’s one of the county’s most prolific offenses as eight Mustangs recorded hits.

Marriotts Ridge is averaging a county-leading 9.85 runs per game. Obitz is often the tone-setter from the leadoff spot, which continued with his three hits on the afternoon. However, the Mustangs’ lineup depth extends far beyond him as they can attack teams from top to bottom.

“They all have the ability to do it. They all trust the next guy in the lineup,” Marriotts Ridge coach Josh Molnar said. “Everybody sees Jonah and Owen as the two main guys and they’re obviously fantastic players. But every guy after that, Malcolm, Nick, Zach, they can all swing the bat well. They just have to have the mental approach. They’ll have the occasional off at-bat, but they have the mental toughness to figure it out.”

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