It was 28 degrees on April 8 in Alexandria, but Bishop Brossart’s baseball team has been as hot as Phoenix in July.
The 10th Region All “A” champion Mustangs meet Ninth Region champion Beechwood in the opening round of the All “A” state tournament at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the Tigers’ diamond.
Going into Tuesday’s game at Covington Catholic, Brossart (8-3) was 6-1 over its previous seven games, and the Mustangs claimed their first All “A” regional trophy since 2019 last Saturday with a pair of five-inning mercy-rule wins, 12-0 over Augusta and 11-1 over Paris.
“It means a lot,” junior Issac Amin said of the newest title. “First time for me doing that … It was a good experience for all of us to do that, but I’ve still got bigger goals.”
RELATED: Vote for the LINK nky Team of the Week(s)
Mustangs coach Ron Verst seeks a four-syllable word – consistency – for the rest of the season. He doesn’t blame the rainy, cold climate.
“You know, we’re getting two games in a week, and you just can’t get in a good rhythm when you only get two games in a week,” Verst said. “So we’re hoping for better weather to come, and like I said, get in some consistency, and I think we’ll be OK.”
Four Mustangs have provided much of the offense: senior Ben Volmer (.478 batting average, 13 runs batted in, a double and a home run), senior Keegan Gulley (.367, 11 RBI, a double and three homers), Amin (.355, nine RBI, five doubles and a homer), and senior Aiden Schultz (.343, five RBI, three doubles).
Volmer and senior Alex Noe are the top two pitchers. Noe carried a 1.35 earned run average with 25 strikeouts and a 3-0 record in 20 2/3 innings pitched, and Volmer is not far behind. (1.62 ERA, 11 strikeouts, 2-1 with a save in 17 1/3 innings.
‘Pretty gruesome’
That Volmer is even playing is a blessing.
The temperature in Alexandria reached 86 degrees on Sept. 6, 2024. Brossart’s football team was on its way to a 49-0 win over Pineville, and Volmer was a defensive tackle.
Volmer saw Pineville’s quarterback scrambling his way a play or two into the third quarter. He planted his left leg.
“And I edge rushed,” Volmer said. “I planted and got pushed from behind. I hyperextended my knee about 25 degrees. It was pretty gruesome.”
Volmer didn’t know he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus.
“I walked off the field,” he said. “I actually walked around for a week before I went to the doctor and got an MRI.”
Because the meniscus was involved, Volmer had to use crutches for five or six weeks. Volmer’s injuries healed after four of five months, but he had to relearn how to run and walk.
“My physical therapist explained it’s more of a neurological injury because you lose some information in your quad because of the surgery,” Volmer said.
On March 18, there was the right-handed Volmer on the mound. He went 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and three walks in an 11-1 loss to CovCath.
A right-handed pitcher leads with his left leg, but Volmer wasn’t worried when he threw.
“Pitching is actually one of the safest things I can do, but when I run the bases, I definitely do think about it,” he said. “But the biggest thing about an ACL injury is that it’s more mental than physical.”
A shrinking spine
Noe can relate to Volmer’s football woes. He hurt his back during practice and missed the 2024 season except for a couple of plays on Senior Night, a 65-0 shutout of Trimble County on Oct. 25.
“I don’t really know how it happened,” Noe said. “ It just appeared and kept progressively getting worse each day.”
Noe’s diagnosis was sciatica and a shrinking spine. He said rehab involved lots of stretching along with an epidural, an injection of medication into the epidural space around the spinal cord to relieve pain.
Verst also hoped the Mustangs are able to move onto their new on-campus field. His fingers-crossed wish: the Mustangs christen their diamond against Ludlow on May 12 or Simon Kenton two days later.
It’s not a guarantee – Verst said Monday the turf had not been installed, and the light poles had not arrived.
“We’re holding out hope, slim as it may be, but hoping that we can get a week on the season for the seniors at least to get on it,” Verst said. “But again, it’s all going to come down to the weather.”