PRESCOTT — After falling behind 9-6 with six outs remaining to mount the comeback, Prescott dug deep, tuned out the noise and simply believed they could do it. The Cardinals pulled off the wild comeback after a walk-off base hit from Cole Platson.

“[Altoona pitcher] Kellen Smith struck me out twice in Altoona. I was a little behind, so I did a leg kick early, saw a fastball high and drove it to right center,” Platson said.

Both teams tried a list of pitchers, with Platson getting the start for Prescott. Altoona jumped out early with a pair of runs in the top of the second. In the bottom of the inning, Joaquin Magee was up with two runners on and nobody out. He laid down a sacrifice bunt, but the Altoona pitcher sailed the throw to first to cut the lead to 2-1. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Will Rohl whacked a single to right for a 3-2 lead. Catcher Brody Temmers, who had four hits on the night, ripped a single to right field to cap the inning at 4-2. Altoona instantly bounced back to tie the game with two runs in the third.

Rohl drove in another run with a single in the bottom of the third, and Dain Pechacek hit a sacrifice fly to help Prescott to a 6-4 lead. Altoona pieced together five unanswered runs with a two-run homer in the fourth, a two-run double in the fifth and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded.

“It’s a game of highs and lows, and there was a lot of that during that game,” Head Coach Jeff Ryan said. “All year the kids have been in situations where they’ve had to battle back, and to do it on a stage like this against a guy who throws upper 80s was pretty impressive.”

Senior Barrett Temmers hit a sacrifice fly to center field in the sixth, giving Prescott their final three outs to come back from down 9-7 against a flamethrower in junior Kellen Smith.

“We’ve had a couple games this year where we’ve been down late,” Ryan said. “You can bank on that, and you can remind yourself hey, we’ve done this before, we can do it again.”

Magee walked to lead off the inning, and Evan Kochendorfer reached on an error to bring the winning run to the plate with nobody out. Rohl laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, bringing up Brody Temmers.

“I knew we had to get something done, so obviously I’ve got to come through,” Temmers said. “I’ve got a brother on the team that’s a senior. I don’t want to see him leave right now, so I knew I had to get it done.”

Temmers crushed a double to left field, marking his fourth hit of the night and driving in the tying run with one out. Platson came up to bat with two outs, and Ryan said it was a story book ending after Platson did not have his best day on the mound.

“It was fitting. They hit the ball well, Cole didn’t have his best stuff,” Ryan said. “I told him when I took him out of the game, ‘You know what Cole, we’re going to need you defensively. We’re going to need you at the plate.’”

Platson stroked the ball to right center, bringing the winning run in to score and summoning a flock of Cardinals from the dugout.

“You never see heads down with us,” Temmers said. “Everyone’s always picking heads up.”

Brody Temmers and Platson both said the game was one they will never forget, ranking it as their favorite game they have ever played in.

“For sure first. I’ve had nothing like that,” Temmers said. “We know we can get it done throughout the whole lineup. I mean, I’m batting nine and I got it done.”

For the players, there was never a doubt they could find a way to win despite the odds being against them.

“We have a lot of seniors on this team that know what it’s like to be down and then come back,” Platson said. “I think we all had a little feeling that we could come back.”

The road does not get easier for Prescott, as the 21-4 Cardinals are heading to Merrill on June 10 to take on 21-3 Aquinas.

“You get a chance to enjoy it for a little bit, but then back to work and fine tune some things,” Ryan said.

“We got to have all nine batters ready to hit, and we’ve got to be aggressive on the bases,” Platson said.