Down but not out. Dobson pitcher Mike Zoemisch made sure of that Thursday for the Mustangs at the 5A-I state baseball tournament.

Zoemisch went right after hitters all game long without power stuff and pitched the No. 14 seed Mustangs to a 5-2 victory over No. 10 Trevor Browne in an elimination game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Dobson, which lost its first game of the tournament Tuesday to Gilbert to find itself in elimination games the rest of the tournament, advances to play again Saturday at 1 p.m. at Phoenix Muny against Desert Ridge, an 8-5 winner over  Salpointe.  The game will be a rematch of their first-round meeting won by Dobson, 9-7. Trevor Browne ended its season 25-7.

Zoemisch, a junior right-hander, rebounded from a bit of rough outing last Saturday against Desert Ridge, to pitch a solid six innings this time around. He got a four-run rally in the second inning from his teammates and rode that early lead to victory by challenging hitters every at-bat.

"We got all those runs early, the defense made plays and he pitched well," Dobson coach Dave Tykoski said. "... (Mike) sets the tone for us when he's out there. He's going to compete for us. That's why we sent him out there."

Zoemisch allowed seven hits - no more than one in an inning except in the fourth when Trevor Browne scored both its runs. In that inning Zoemisch gave up a two-run triple to the Bruins Marco Martinez with one out. Zoemisch managed to strand Martinez at third. In the fifth Zoemisch stranded a runner at second and in the sixth left Bruins on at second and third inducing a comebacker with two outs. He struck out two and did not walk a batter. Reliever D.J. Carr pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the Bruins.

""I went out with a straight focus to win this game for my team," Zoemisch, who claims he tops out on the radar gun at 75 mph, said. "Just focus on the hitters and hit my spots."

Dobson (14-18) used a sloppy second inning from Trevor Browne to get the upper hand it never relinquished. Three hits, an error, a hit batter and wild pitch combined for the Mustangs' four runs. The big hit was a two-run triple by shortstop Josh Stone, who scored a couple moments later on the wild pitch. Carr singled home Ryan Starzl, who tripled in the third inning , for Dobson's final run.

Trevor Browne pitcher Jacob Potts pitched a good game in losing. Other than the second inning, Potts allowed three other hits in tossing a complete game. He struck out nine and walked four.

In other 5A-I elimination games, No. 16 seed North Canyon knocked off No. 5 Mesa Mountain View, 5-1, at Camelback Ranch Glendale Stadium. No. 1 Mesquite hung on to edge No. 12 Highland, 4-3, at Camelback Ranch. Mesquite and North Canyon meet Saturday at 7 p.m. at  Phoenix Muny in another elimination game.