Conner brings the bats in quarterfinal victory over St. Henry

In quite the contrast from the first two games of the day, Conner and St. Henry brought out the bats in their regional baseball tournament quarterfinal matchup.

In all, 13 runs were scored, 24 hits were tallied, seven walks were drawn and five errors were committed at Thomas More Stadium in Florence.

The final result: Conner 9, St. Henry 4. The first two games in the quarterfinals had five runs combined with 18 hits and just one error committed.

The Cougars collected 16 of the 24 hits in the contest, four each from their 1-2 hitters in Brady Bushman and Case Testerman.

Bushman had a triple and three singles and scored four runs. His triple got the Cougars started in the first.

“I know as our lead off and our one hole of every game that I’m a crucial person to get on,” Bushman said. “I knew once I hit, I thought it was going to be a single, kicked off the wall, I got to third, I knew right then and there set the tone right away and I think we just carried on from that.”

Testerman had a double with three singles and drove in three runs while scoring three runs.

“When Brady is on base he’s normally not on first, so I don’t have to worry about a double play ball,” Testerman said. “Normally I’m just worried about hitting it, hopefully moving him over, so yeah, it’s really easy being the two-hole with him.

The Cougars scored a run in every inning but the third and put at least two runners on in every frame. It did however leave runners on the paths, as they stranded 12 runners in the contest.

After Conner jumped out 2-0, St. Henry responded with two runs in the top of the second on a Landon Schuler two-run double.

Conner answered with two in the bottom of the second on a Testerman RBI double and Max Brunkel RBI single and led the entire way from there. Grayson Wagner, Brunkel and Cooper Kelly added two hits apiece, Brunkel and Kelly driving in two runs.

St. Henry had their chances as they finished with eight hits, led by Schuler with three hits. Cy Parento and Ben Ryan had two apiece. They had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fifth trailing 5-2 and got one across. They also had runners on the paths trailing 8-3 and got another across in the sixth.

Everett Hall got the win for the Cougars on the mound, as he worked 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, walked two and struck out six. Jagger Sheanshang finished with 1.2 innings of relief, allowing two hits and striking out four.

Conner has rallied around each other despite head coach Mike Hart being suspended indefinitely on April 29 after a game against Boone County. They struggled initially when they lost three of four, but have won seven of their last eight since.

“Team morale. Seniors obviously stepping up big time, keeping everybody up, keeping us moving,” Testerman said. “What happened with coach is unfortunate, but we can’t really change that. Just got to stay as a team and keep going.”

Now they get a highly anticipated semifinal against Beechwood on Tuesday. The two have met three times this season, Beechwood holding a 2-1 edge in those contests.

St. Henry’s season comes to a close at 10-25.

CONNER 9, ST. HENRY 4