GLEN DALE – Staying alive.

John Marshall did just that Wednesday afternoon, but it took a miraculous comeback. The Monarchs trailed Brooke, 9-2, heading into the home-half of the sixth inning.

Coach Mark Cisar’s resilient charges, however, exploded for 12 runs in the frame en route to an amazing 14-9 win over the Bruins in a Class AAA Region 1 Section 1 elimination game.

The improbable triumph moves John Marshall into another elimination game today at Wheeling Park. The Patriots, who downed the Monarchs Monday, fell at Morgantown last night.

“It is by far the biggest comeback I have ever been involved with. It would have been easy for our kids to give up when we were down 9-1,” Cisar said. “We were close to being mercy-ruled. I couldn’t be prouder and happier for our guys.

“We obviously did a lot of good things in the sixth inning. We got good at-bats and made good contact,” added the former Magnolia High athletic great. “We ran the bases well and made good decisions. You could feel the momentum turning our way. It was a remarkable inning.”

Ethan Neely started the outburst by drawing a walk. Jacob Korngiver singled before the Bruins committed three errors, plating a pair of Monarchs. Brennan Sobutka singled, setting the table for a Conner Blatt two-run double.

Chase Kerns followed with an RBI single and Dillon Wright walked. Jacob Coffield rapped an RBI single. Neely was beaned and Korngiver walked. Senior ace Grant Neiswonger delivered the biggest blow of the inning, crushing a Bruin pitch to deep left center, good for a two-bagger while plating three. It also gave John Marshall its first lead of the day at 12-9.

Sobutka kept the uprising rolling with a triple to plate Neiswonger. Sobutka subsequently scored on a throwing error to cap the 12-run inning.

“We didn’t do much the first five innings. They pitched well up to that point,” Cisar said. “But when you get runners on base it puts pressure on them and we did that in the sixth inning.”

Brooke appeared cruising to the victory after scoring five times in the fifth to make it a 9-2 issue.

Anthony Bachinski, Garrett Hornick and Hunter Mozingo all delivered RBI singles in the inning while Raymond DeFranco knocked in a fourth via a sac fly. The fifth tally came home on a Monarch error.

“There is not much you can say. Things were looking really good after five innings,” Brooke High head coach C.J. Besece said. “Give credit to JM. They put together a huge inning. Things just snowballed.

“We were shorthanded. We entered the sectional minus our top two pitchers. That made it tough,” added the former Buckeye Local standout. “We had a young team this season with just senior. Things are looking up for us in the future.”

Brooke ended the campaign with a 9-16 mark.

Luke Cramer started on the hill for John Marshall. He worked into the fifth, striking out one and walking three. Neely earned the mound win with three sharp innings of relief. He struck out three and passed one.

Brooke used four pitchers. Hornick started and gave way to DeFranco in the sixth. Charlie Fuscardo also entered in the sixth as did Ian Robinson. All told, the quartet struck out five and waked a like amount.

John Marshall ended with 13 hits. Sobutka led the way with a triple, double and single. Blatt delivered a single and double while Wright produced two singles.

Brooke totaled 11 hits on the day. Bachinski, DeFranco, Hornick, Fuscardo and Carson Lauttamus all had two hits for the Bruins.

“We are happy to be playing again tomorrow. It didn’t look like that would happen for a while,” Cisar said. “We played a good game against Park Monday. We just didn’t hit enough and made some mistakes.”