HAMPDEN – Chris Pease admitted the finality of the situation did cross his mind, with Hampden Academy trailing Brewer by two runs entering the final inning of their Eastern A baseball prelim at Bordick Park on Tuesday.

His high school career, after all, was three outs away from being history.

“It hit me a little bit, but not as bad as I thought it might,” said the Broncos’ senior, “because I knew we were going to do everything we could to win.”

And Pease helped make that happen, pitching a six-hitter and popping a two-run single to center in the bottom of the seventh as the No. 8 Broncos scored three runs in their final at-bat for a 6-5 victory.

Junior right fielder Danny MacLean followed with the game-winning hit, a bases-loaded, one-out single that advanced coach David Shapiro’s club (12-5) to a quarterfinal at No. 1 Gardiner (13-3) on Thursday. No. 9 Brewer ends its season at 11-6.

“I wanted to win the game for us,” said MacLean, who hit a 1-2 fastball from Brewer reliever Corey Cushing into center field to deliver Pat Moran with the winning run. “I was nervous, but I figured I could do the job.

Hampden was shut down for much of the day by Brewer junior Evan Economy, who yielded two runs in the first but took a 5-2 lead into the sixth.

Economy was aided by an errorless defense led by right fielder Ben Davis, who made a pair of diving catches in right-center to deny Moran and MacLean extra-base hits.

Kevin Brooks singled and came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Mike Brown to cut the gap to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but the rally was cut short when Joel Neill, who had been hit by a pitch, beat the throw to second on Brown’s grounder but overran the base and was caught in a rundown for the final out.

Billy Shannon gave Hampden hope in the seventh with a one-out single to right-center. Ian Lee was hit by a pitch, and Moran hit an infield single to load the bases.

Pease then popped the first pitch he saw into shallow center, driving home Shannon and pinch-runner Chris Morris to tie the game.

Brooks was intentionally walked to load the bases before MacLean greeted Cushing with Hampden’s fourth hit of the inning, and eighth of the game.

“The key hit was [Pease’s] little blooper over second base,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “Had we gotten that second out, it’s a different ballgame. It’s ironic that sometimes we think the big shots are going to win the game and it’s the little ones that beat you.”

Brewer expected to face Moran, the University of Maine-bound pitcher who is expected to get the start against Gardiner, but struck early against Pease, now 5-1 this spring.

Kevin McAvoy hit a two-run triple off the base of the center-field fence to drive home Andrew Otis and Brandon Hardy to give the Witches a 2-0 lead before the first out of the game had been recorded.

Hampden tied the game in the bottom of the inning as Economy walked the first three Broncos he faced – one intentionally – before Moran singled home one run and Pease plated the second with a sacrifice fly.

Brewer made it 5-2 in the second on RBI singles by Otis and Hardy and a sacrifice fly by Matt Grimes.

BRONCOS 6, WITCHES 5

Brewer (11-6) Hampden Acad. (12-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Otis, lf 3 2 1 1 Meehan, ss 3 1 0

Hardy, dh 4 1 2 1 Shannon, 2b 3 2 0

Economy, p 0 0 0 0 Lee, c 2 0 0 0

Gray, 2b 0 0 0 0 Morris, pr 0 1 0

McAvoy, 3b 3 0 1 2 Moran, 1b 4 1 1

Grimes, cf 2 0 0 1 Pease, p 3 0 3

Brown, 1b 3 0 1 0 Brooks, 3b 3 1 0

Sasaki, pr 0 0 0 0 MacLean, rf 3 0 1

Cushing, 2b 3 0 0 0 Neill, lf 2 0 0

Davis, rf 2 0 0 0 Brown, cf 3 0 1

Peasley, c 3 1 1 0

Adams, ss 2 1 0 0

Totals 25 5 6 5 Totals 26 6 8 6

Brewer 230 000 0-5

Hampden Acad. 200 001 3-6

E-Pease; LOB-Brewer 4, Hampden 9; 2B-Pease; 3B-McAvoy; SF-Grimes; Pease

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Economy (L, 4-2) 6 1/3 7 6 6 5 3

Cushing 0 1 0 0 0 0

Hampden Acad. IP H R ER BB SO

Pease (W, 5-1) 7 6 5 5 3 7

One out when winning run scored.

HBP-Davis by Pease; Neill by Economy, Lee by Economy; WP-Economy 3; Pease; T-2:00; ATT-250