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Tuesday night will be a painful memory for Polk County for some time.

The Wolverines saw a three-run lead drop to one, then a five-run lead completely evaporate as Brevard rallied for a 12-11 victory in a Mountain Foothills 7 Conference matchup in Brevard.

What could have been a key win in Polk County’s drive to reach the .500 level and earn a home playoff game instead turned into a celebration for the Blue Devils (6-10, 3-6), who scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a one-run lead.

Polk County (8-10, 2-7) still had a shot tie the game in the seventh as Gunnar Alm opened the inning with a leadoff double. Two flyouts left Alm at second before he stole third, his third steal of the game. Another flyout, though, kept him there.

After two scoreless innings, the Wolverines began to find their offensive groove in the third. Mark Jarrett doubled and Noah Harden reached on a bunt single to open the inning. Jarrett scored on a wild pitch before an Alm double played courtesy runner Nick Sotomayor.

Alm stole third, then scored on Lawson Carter’s grounder. Alex Perry and Mason Beiler each drew walks before Cohen Edwards singled to score Perry and give Polk a 4-0 advantage.

Brevard responded with its own four-run rally in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, but the Wolverines answered with three runs in the fourth. A walk to Harden and an Alm single led to Lawson Carter’s RBI single with two outs, with Alm moving to third. A Brevard error allowed Alm to score, with Carter taking second, from where he scored on Perry’s single to make it 7-4.

The Blue Devils sliced the lead to one with two runs in the fifth, but Polk pushed the lead to five in the top of the sixth. Alm walked with one out, stole second and scored on Karson Scruggs’ single, with an outfield error allowing Scruggs to race to third.

Carter followed with a base hit to score Scruggs, then stole second with two outs. A Beiler single brought home Carter, and singles by Zalen McCraw and Edwards loaded the bases before Jarrett drew a walk to put the Wolverines up 11-6.

Alm finished 3-for-4 and scored three runs, with Edwards 2-for-4 with an RBI, Carter going 2-for-5 with three RBI and Scruggs 2-for-5 with an RBI. Jarrett, McCraw, Beiler, Perry and Harden each added base hits as every Wolverine starter recorded at least one hit.

The two teams are slated to meet again Friday at The Bottoms.