In an unforgettable playoff run, Brother Rice’s Sean Sullivan wore as many hats as possible.

He went from a specialist coming off the bench to pinch hit, run or take over as a defensive replacement to locked-in starter and offensive catalyst, getting some of the biggest hits.

The senior designated hitter/infielder reached base all three times Saturday in the Class 4A state championship game, scoring two runs and igniting the Crusaders’ comeback.

“I laid it all on the line,” Sullivan said. “I tried to get on so the people behind me could hit me in. I had team at-bats and just tried to do everything for the team.

“Regional championship, we came back and won. Sectional championship, we came back and won. We always fought our butts off to come back, and we tried to do it in this game. We fell short, but just knowing we gave it our all means everything.”

Brother Rice rallied from an early three-run deficit to tie the game, but Edwardsville scored twice in the final two innings to win its second straight state title with a 6-4 victory over the Crusaders at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet.

Aidan Nohava had an RBI double for Brother Rice (26-16), while Jackson Natanek and Purdue recruit Amir Gray each drove in a run.

The Crusaders used three sophomore pitchers in Danny Sheehan, Tadgh Callahan and Natanek and the trio gave it their best shot, but Cole Funkhouser’s RBI single with two outs in the sixth inning broke a 4-4 tie and gave Edwardsville (33-9) the lead for good.

Batting in the No. 9 spot in Brother Rice’s order, Sullivan led off the third and fifth innings, getting on base via a double and a walk and scoring both times.

“He’s a baseball player,” Brother Rice coach Sean McBride said of Sullivan. “He’s tough. He cares about his teammates. He’s so coachable. He looks you right in the eye and listens to what you have to say and then he does it.

“He’s a smart kid. He had a heck of a run, and it seems like he’s started every big inning for us in the last few games. What a great job by him.”

McBride said Sullivan’s versatility made him a valuable commodity off the bench earlier in the season, but McBride knew Sullivan would eventually get his shot to start again.

And Sullivan was ready for it.

“I worked so hard in the offseason,” he said. “Getting a (starting) role back in the playoffs as a senior meant everything to me.”

Bryce Nevils, a Western Kentucky recruit who singled and scored on Gray’s groundout in the fifth to force the 4-4 tie, said Sullivan’s attitude never changed no matter what role he was in.

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“Sean’s a four-year player and a captain this year,” Nevils said. “No matter what happened on and off the field, he was always the first one outside of the dugout, the first one at practice giving everyone tips. He was one of the examples for our younger players.

“He became a big player within the last two weeks, and he just kept fighting and fighting.”

The whole Brother Rice team could be called fighters. Entering the playoffs with a 20-15 record, the Crusaders felt counted out by many.

But Nevils said Brother Rice put an up-and-down regular season in the rearview mirror right before the postseason.

“When we did get down on ourselves, the practice before the first game of the playoffs, we played 16-inch softball,” Nevils said. “That’s all we did. We just had fun and remembered what that was like.

“After that, we went on our run.”

Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.