CARMI – The Metro East Bears are heading to the Illinois American Legion state baseball tournament next week.
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And they did it in pretty convincing fashion too.
The Bears took just seven innings to eliminate Teutopolis, who had won an elimination game the night before against Murphysboro, in a 12-0 win in the final of the Illinois Fifth Division Legion tournament at Borsch Field.
Metro East will play the Fourth Division champion, either Mattoon or Danville, at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in their state tournament opener. Mattoon and Danville were taking each other on Friday evening in Rantoul for the championship, with a second game set for Saturday morning if needed. The state tournament runs through Aug. 1, with the American Legion Great Lakes Regional tournament set for Aug. 5-9 at Gordon Moore Park/Lloyd Hopkins Field. The Bears will take part in the tournament regardless of what happens in the state tournament under Legion rules.
“Teutopolis is a good-hitting team; they beat Murphysboro 17-10 the night before to get here,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake. “Aaron (Jackson) got the ball and he pitched great; he gave up just five hits – all of them singles – and none of their runners got past second.
“After the close wins we had, that was a good feeling to go out there and win big like we did. I'm really proud of the kids for that.”
Drake Hampton had three hits for the Bears, while Anthony Kindle and Mitchell Krebs each had two hits and a RBI. The big blow of the day came in the seventh, though, when Roxana's Chance Foss got ahold of a pitch and belted a grand-slam home run to bring the game to an end on the 10-run rule (which is after seven innings in a nine-inning Legion game).
Jordan Hovey was named tournament MVP.
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