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It would be possible to simply say that Bellaire beat Westbury 2-0 at Ray Knoblauch Field, Butler Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. But that would be like saying that two airplanes hit two buildings in New York City on September 11, 2001. Both are factually true, but both would miss out on several extremely dramatic sub-plots.

First, we have the Bellaire Cardinals, with their rich tradition of winning baseball in District 20-5a, versus the once proud, but in recent years downtrodden, and now once again proud Westbury Rebels.

Then there is the coaching angle. Longtime Bellaire head coach Rocky P. Manuel versus his protege, second-year Westbury head coach Derrick Taylor.

Perhaps you want to go the starting pitcher route. We have longtime friends and former teammates righty senior Pat Brosch for Westbury going head-to-head with lefty senior Jared Rothenberg for Bellaire.

Maybe the Bellaire-to-Westbury connection intriegues you. That would be starting pitcher and cleanup hitter Pat Brosch and power three-hole hitter Aaron Dushkin earning starring roles for coach Taylor at Westbury after three years at Bellaire High School.

Do you prefer the game drama angle? How about a scoreless pitcher's duel after six innings with both starting pitchers still in the game?

Maybe you enjoy the drama of potential records in the making. That might be Bellaire's Jared Rothenberg throwing a perfect game through 5 2/3 innings, to have it broken up with an infield error on a strikeout.

It could be bottom-of-the-7th relief pitching drama that turns you on. That would be Bellaire's closer extraordiaire, senior Matthew Anderson, stranding the tying runner at first on three straight swinging strikeouts.

Or is it just a good, close baseball game between two bitter and longtime rivals that gets your juices flowing? We had that too. And now on to the game.

In the top of the first inning, Pat Brosch allowed Alex Silver to reach first on a HBP, but stranded him there with a strikeout swinging, a strikeout looking and an infield ground out.

In the bottom of the first, Rothenberg retired Westbury on two strikeouts looking and a ground out to third.

In the top of the second, Bellaire had the bases loaded with two outs on a Wesley Mercurio single to right, an Andrew Burns hbp, and a Sean Washington infield single. However, Brosch stranded all three, getting the third out on a grounder to second.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Rothenberg sent Westbury down 1-2-3 on two grounders to the mound and a fly out to third base. Scoreless after two.

In the top of the 3rd, Bellaire put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out courtesy of an infield error, a single to right by catcher, Jeremy Schaffer, and a sac bunt by Kyle Chaskin. However, Brosch was able to keep Bellaire scoreless on a strikeout swinging and a foul fly down third.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Rothenberg continued to cruise, retiring Westbury on 6 pitches with a ground out to third, a strikeout swinging, and a ground out to the pitcher. Still scoreless after 3.

In the top of the 4th, Bellaire second baseman, Mark Vlaskamp (who came in to replace Andrew Burns who was injured when hit in the ear flap with an errant fastball), sliced a double down the left field line. With one out, he advanced to third base on an infield throwing error, but was stranded when Brosch got one strikeout looking and another one swinging.

In the bottom of the 4th, Rothenberg had to use 50% more pitches to retire Westbury 1-2-3 than the inning before. In 9 pitches, Rothenberg induced a groundout, a flyout to center, and a groundout to second to keep the game scoreless.

In the top of the 5th, Brosch took Bellaire down 1-2-3, but not without some sensational glove work by his left fielder. With one out, Kyle Chaskin hit a fly ball deep in the left field corner. Westbury leftfielder, Thomas Law, tracked down the ball and made a bending, twisting, diving sensational catch to keep Chaskin off the bases. Brosch ended the 1-2-3 inning with his 8th strikeout of the game.

In the bottom of the 5th, Rothenberg put Westbury down 1-2-3 on 12 pitches on an infield groundout, a strikeout swinging, and a foul fly to catcher. Still scoreless after 5 innings of play, and Rothenberg was still perfect after 5 innings on the mound.

In the top of the 6th, Bellaire right fielder, Wesley Mercurio led off with a double to the left-center field gap. Mercurio was thrown out trying to stretch the leadoff double into a triple. That would prove costly three pitches later as replacement second baseman Mark Vlaskamp (2-2, single & double), sliced a line drive single to center that would almost certainly have scored Mercurio from second. However, like the magician he seemed to be, Brosch got himself out of trouble with strikeouts number 9 and 10 to keep the game scoreless in the middle of 6.

In the bottom of the 6th, Rothenberg got the first two outs quickly on a foul fly to catcher and a strikeout looking. However, his dreams of a perfect game disintegrated with an infield error after a strikeout putting Thomas Law at first with two outs. While pitching to the next batter, Rothenberg picked Law off of first, but an infield throwing error put Law on second base. Leadoff hitter Joseph Pinedo hit a slow roller to second base, and just barely beat it out to put runners on the corners with two outs (and end Rothenberg's no-hit bid). However, Rothenberg maintained his composure after the 2 errors and slow roller base-hit to end the inning on a groundout to second to keep the game scoreless after 6 innings of play.

Pat Brosch had thrown 97 pitches through 6 innings to keep Bellaire scoreless. The long outing on the mound finally took its toll in the top of the 7th, allowing Bellaire to finally break onto the scoreboard. Speedy leadoff hitter, Jarrett Higgins was hit with a 2-2 fastball to put him on first base. He promptly stole second and third. With one out, Jeremy Schaffer drove Higgins in from third with a single through shortstop to give Bellaire a 1-0 lead. An infield error put Bellaire runners on first and third with one out. Designated hitter Will McCaleb drove home courtesy runner Miles Mendeloff (running for Schaffer) from third with a beautiful bunt single. Bellaire had runners on first and third with one out and a 2-0 lead. That was all for Brosch, who by now had thrown 113 pitches. Andre Oliver induced the next Bellaire batter to ground out to first for the second out of the inning. On the play, Brian Baumgarten (who was pinch running for Kyle Chaskin) tried to score from third. He was mowed down when Westbury first baseman Marcus Haynes fired a perfect strike to Westbury catcher "G" Burkhardt, who slapped the tag onto Baumgarten for the third out. That snuffed out the Bellaire rally, but not before Bellaire carried a slim 2-0 lead to the bottom of the 7th.

Westbury was down, but it refused to give up. Rothenberg, whose pitch count was creeping into the high 80's gave up a single to right to Westbury three-hole hitter Aaron Dushkin. It was just the second Westbury ball hit out of the infield against Rothenberg all afternoon. Pat Brosch walked on a 3-1 pitch, and that was all for Rothenberg. Bellaire coach Rocky Manuel called on closer, Matthew Anderson to preserve the lead and the game with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs in the bottom of the 7th. All Anderson did was strike out three consecutive Rebels on eleven pitches to earn the save.

With the dramatic win, Bellaire moves to 22-1 and 4-0 in district play. The competition does not get any easier on Friday night as Bellaire faces another district nemesis, the Westside Wolves, at 7pm at Ray Knoblauch Field, Butler Stadium, in beautiful southwest Houston. Be there or be at Reliant Stadium for the UT Sweet 16 basketball game. No, be at the baseball game. It's more important!!!!


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 8 2 Bellaire Cardinals (22-1, 4-0)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 Westbury Rebels

WP - Jared Rothenberg (4-0, 1-0) 6 ip, 0 r, 0 er, 2 h, 1 bb, 6 k's, 90 p.
Save - Matthew Anderson 1 ip, 0 r, 0 er, 0 h, 0 bb, 3 k's, 11 p.
LP - Pat Brosch 6.1 ip, 2 r, 1 er, 8 h, 0 bb, 3 hbp, 10 k's, 113 p.
also for Westbury, Andre Oliver, 0.2 ip, 0 r, 0 er, 0 h, 0 bb, 0 k, 4 p.