ALEXANDRIA, Ky. — The 10th Region baseball tournament held its first-round games at Bishop Brossart on Monday, following a week’s worth of rain caused the rescheduling and relocation of the quarterfinals.
In the first game of the day, the Bracken County Polar Bears and Campbell County Camels took the field, Bracken County entering the tournament after a disappointing 13-2 loss to Mason County in the 39th District championship game, and Campbell County coming in off a 3-0 victory over Scott in the 37th District championship.
Early in the contest, both teams’ defenses were hard at work, allowing no runs through the bottom of the third inning. That inning, Bracken County pitcher Noah Bachman walked two batters, with a double from Camden Tiemeier bringing them both in to score, Campbell County leading 2-0 heading into the top of the fourth.
Another scoreless inning for the Polar Bears had the Camels back in the batter’s box, with a walk from Lucas Anthrop and a single from Jackson Bittner bringing in Campbell County’s third run of the day.
“These kids have had to deal with a lot of adversity this year. Being able to battle themselves out of tough spots that, unfortunately we’ve put ourselves in. They never give up, they have huge hearts,” said Polar Bears head coach Nick Steinhauer.
Campbell County’s 3-0 lead over the Polar Bears remained until the bottom of the fifth, with a pair of singles from Tyler Schumacher and Gavin Richardson, and a ground ball from Tiemeier bringing in two more runs for the Camels. Neither team would be able to send runners across home plate through the final two innings of play, allowing Campbell County the win leading 5-0 over Bracken County.
“I’m proud. We made contact, just couldn’t find holes. Their pitcher was phenomenal, we just didn’t capitalize when we had the chances, but we did what we could. We hung in with a very, very good Campbell County team so I couldn’t be more proud. We didn’t even make region last year,” said coach Steinhauer.
Campbell County’s pitcher, Dennis Mercurio pitched a complete game against the Polar Bears, totaling seven strikeouts and no walks and allowed just two hits to Bracken County batters.
“Our pitchers pitched great, honestly I’m just proud of the kids. We won three games last year and this year we were able to win 12. We’re here, and they got a chance. That’s all I could ask for,” said coach Steinhauer.
The 2026 Bracken County Polar Bears graduated ten seniors at the end of this season, Noah Bachman, Corbin Combess, Peyton Dwenger, Kirt Hamilton, Justis Johnson, Mason Jones, Harvey Napier, Cole Sharp, Caleb Sutton and Cayden Williams.
“They’re all my sons,” said coach Steinhauer. “I love every single one of them, and I wish them the best.”
With this loss Bracken County’s 2026 season has come to an end. Campbell County was scheduled to return to the field Tuesday night to face the George Rogers Clark Cardinals in the 10th Region baseball semifinals.
BRACKEN COUNTY
H: Sutton, Bachman
IP: Johnson 1.0, Bachman 5.0
K: Bachman 8
BB: Bachman 6
CAMPBELL COUNTY
H: Bittner, Richardson, Schumacher, Tiemeier
R: Schumacher 2, Ramundo, Price, Anthrop
RBI: Bittner, Richardson 2, Tiemeier 2
2B: Tiemeier
SB: Bittner, Richardson, Price
IP: Mercurio 7.0
K: Mercurio 7
Leave a Reply