After being shut out in the first game of the area playoff series, the Bellaire baseball team needed its bats to wake up big time Saturday at Katy's Tiger Field.

And woke up they did.

The Cardinals squeaked out a 7-6 win in the second game and pulled away late for a 12-4 win to advance to the Region III-5A semifinals, where they will face District 20-5A rival Lamar next weekend.

“It’s hard to come up here against Katy because they’re a well-coached ballclub,” Bellaire manager Rocky Manuel said. “To come into their backyard and win two games today, we’re real fortunate.

“I thought our kids performed (well). Great players make great coaches, so we’re glad in how our boys performed today.”

After getting only three hits in Friday night’s 2-0 loss, Bellaire (33-5) woke up offensively, getting a total of 19 runs and 23 hits against Tigers pitching in the two games.

In the first game, Katy picked up where it left off, as RBIs from Justin Cudd and Keifer Nuncio in the first inning gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. But a couple of home runs – Trace Knoblauch in the third and Kyle Chaskin in the fourth – tied the game at 2.

After Katy got a run in the bottom of the fifth, the Cardinals exploded for five runs in the sixth inning to take control of the game. With the bases loaded and one out, shortstop Andrew Burns hit a line drive that hit off the glove of Katy third baseman Randy Picard, scoring a run. Then four straight RBI hits from Knoblauch, shortstop Alex Silver, outfielder Sean Washington and catcher Jeremy Schaffer put the Cards up 7-3.

Katy (27-7) came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning, but could not get another one home off of reliever Jeff Rohrbach and lost 7-6. Rohrbach got the save while reliever Matthew Anderson got the win even though he threw only two pitches.

The Bellaire bats kept it going in the second game, as RBI hits from Chaskin, designated hitter Chris Minifee, Knoblauch and second baseman Andrew Burns put the Cards up 4-1. But Katy pulled even in the fourth with a two-RBI double by outfielder Jared Fancher and a RBI single by Cudd to tie the game at four.

The Cards regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Knoblauch scored from third on a throwing error by catcher Andrew Stumph. Silver added to the lead with a solo homer in the fifth, along with a RBI single by outfielder Jarrett Higgins to increase the lead to three runs.

The Cards blew the game wide open in the sixth inning, scoring five runs to seal the win and the series.

Meanwhile, freshman pitcher Toller Boardman pitched a complete game for the win, holding the Tigers to seven hits and striking out six.

“He’s a 6-foot-3, 205-pound freshman, so he’s not old enough to be nervous or scared,” Manuel said. “We wanted to get five innings out of him, but fortunately, we got seven. He did a good job.”

One of the big hitters was Chaskin, who was 3-for-6 on the day with a homer, three RBIs and three runs scored.

“Kyle hit real well and he’s got that kind of swing,” Manuel said. “He’s going to be a great college player.”

Now Bellaire prepares to face Lamar in the regional quarterfinals after splitting two games in district play. But Manuel wants his team to approach the next series like if it was any other.

“We don’t have any rivals, we play them all the same,” he said.

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