By Don Ketchum

Phoenix Brophy Prep got a big boom from its bats on Saturday (April 30) and rolled to an 18-2 victory in five innings over host Phoenix Alhambra in a Class 5A Division I first-round baseball state tournament game.

Brophy, the No. 9 seed, lashed out 15 hits, including four home runs.

The Broncos advance to the second round in Pool A play and will face top-seeded Gilbert Mesquite on Tuesday (May 3) at Camelback Ranch Stadium, spring home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. First pitch is 7 p.m. Mesquite defeated No. 16 Phoenix North Canyon 8-4 on Saturday.

The Brophy-Mesquite game will be preceded by a 4 p.m. game featuring No. 5 Mesa Mountain View and No. 4 Chandler Hamilton. Mountain View defeated No. 12 Gilbert Highland 6-2, and Hamilton coasted past No. 12 Casa Grande 18-5.

The loser’s bracket in the double-elimination event also is set for Tuesday.

North Canyon will travel to Alhambra for one Pool A game, and Casa Grande will visit Highland. Those games are at 4 p.m.

In Pool B play on Saturday, No. 2 Phoenix Mountain Pointe defeated No. 15 Phoenix Maryvale 12-2, No. 7 Tucson Salpointe Catholic defeated No. 10 Phoenix Trevor Browne 16-6 in five innings, No. 6 Gilbert edged No. 11 Tempe Corona del Sol 12-11 and No. 14 Mesa Dobson outlasted No. 3 Mesa Desert Ridge 9-7.

All of the Pool B games are on Tuesday. In winner’s bracket play at Phoenix Municipal Stadium (spring home of the Oakland Athletics), Dobson faces Gilbert at 4 p.m., followed by Salpointe and Mountain Pointe at 7.

Loser’s bracket games at 4 p.m. are Corona del Sol at Desert Ridge and Maryvale at Trevor Browne.

From the beginning on Saturday, Brophy (20-8) started hitting and never let up against Alhambra.

The Broncos scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second and eight in the third. The outburst in the third was punctuated by three consecutive home runs – by Connor Messman, John Rapisarda and Dan Winkler. Messman finished with five RBIs and had three hits and a walk.

“He’s (Messman) only a sophomore and is going to continue to be a good one for us,’’ said long-time Brophy coach Tom Succow.

Brophy got team’s fourth home run in the fourth inning from Greg Goodman.

Alhambra (18-6) scored its runs in the first inning on a double by Jose Jurado and a single by Lino Vargas, but could generate nothing else against Brophy right-hander David Graybill.

“He’s been getting better every time out,’’ said Succow.

“We wanted to play as hard as we could, that was no big secret. We have respect for Alhambra. They wouldn’t have won all those games and wouldn’t have been here if they didn’t do something right.’’

The memory of last year’s two-and-out against Hamilton and Laveen Cesar Chavez motivated the Broncos into avoiding a similar situation this time around.

“Today was our 20^th win, which we feel is a very good accomplishment,’’ Succow said. “These days, it is very hard to win one game, let alone 20.’’