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EDWARDSVILLE — The Metro-East Bears American Legion baseball team look prepared and primed for a deep post-season run.
The Bears used very strong pitching and timely hitting to sweep Shelby County, Ill., 3-2 and 9-0 in a doubleheader Saturday evening at Edwardsville's Hoppe Park, a twinbill that was the regular season finale for the club.
The two games were vastly different. The Bears took a close decision in the opener before exploding offensively in the nightcap in sweeping the doubleheader.
“We had two different types of games,” Bears manager Ken Schaake said. “The first game was a close game, we went back and forth,, we scored the go-ahead run, Brandon (Hampton) came in, and did a real good job for us, and Andrew (Frank, who started the first game) started off really good, did the three innings for us, and then Brandon did four strong innings. And yeah, we had to work for the runs in the first inning a little bit more. In the second, their pitching was probably a little down, and guys were just hitting line drives, hit a couple to the deep parts of the park, a couple of triples, and a double.”
In the first game, Shelby County hit the front in the opening inning. Nic Hutchinson led the game off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Taylor Coleman, and advanced to third on a single by Tanner Coleman, who later stole second. Hutchinson scored on Klayton Wolff's RBI grounder to second to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Bears countered in the bottom of the inning, starting with a Dylan Burris base hit and a walk to Kade Burns. Joel Quirin walked to load the bases, and Blake Vandiver singled home Burris and Burns to give the Bears the edge. A double play ended the inning.
The opener settled into a pitching duel between Frank and Hutcinson. Hutchinson only allowed a walk through the fourth while Frank retired eight in a row before giving way to Hampton. Hampton retired the first two batters he faced in the fourth before giving up a single to Caleb Hill.
Shelby County drew level in the fifth. Dylan Park singled to start, stole second, and advanced to third on a ground out. After Josh Overbeck struck out, Hutchinson also struck out, but got to first when the ball got away from the catcher, allowing Park to score the tying run.
Undaunted, the Bears took the lead back for good in the home half. Singles by Will Messer and Konnor Loewen and a walk to Burns jammed the bases. Messer was forced at the plate on a grounder by Burns, but Quirin saved the day, singling home Loewen. A perfect throw from center nailed Burris trying to score on the play.
That was all Hampton would need, as he only gave up a sixth inning single, getting a nifty double play, then struck out the side in the seventh to get the win for Metro-East.
In the nightcap, the Bears used three pitchers — Issac Garrett, Tyler Lewis and Zac Seavers — in combining for a four-hit shutout, while Quirin went two for four with five RBIs as Metro-East coasted to the win.
“Issac hasn't gotten to throw a lot, because he wasn't here until the Valmeyer game,” Schaake said, “but we got him in, and let him pitch a little bit more than he had this year, probably I think two, three, or four innings today, and then Lewis came in, threw a couple, and then got Seavers in to throw one inning. Yes, we got all the pitchers in that we wanted to, and we didn't want to push (Storm) Coffman, and just let him rest his arm for a while, and everyone else threw tonight.”
Garrett did pitch very well, allowig only one hit — a second inning single to Wolff — in his four innings of work, while fanning two and walking none. Meanwhile, the Bears' bats went to work in the third inning of the nightcap, starting with a Messer triple to the right center field alley. Burris singled him home, and went to second on a Burns single. Both runners scored on Quirin's triple to the deepest part of the park in straightaway center. Vandiver flew out to center, but when the throw to the plate was wile, Quirin scored on the error.
In the next inning, Coffman, playing in left field, and Messer led off with singles, with a walk to Burns one out later loading the bases. Quirin doubled home Coffman and Messer to score two more runs, but Burns was thrown out at the plate on a great relay throw by the shortstop. The next batter, Vandiver, singled home Quirin with the Bears' seventh run.
“(Quirin's) a real good hitter,” Schaake said. “Before the triple, he looked real bad on a swing, and the next thing you know, he's hitting one off the fence in right center. He's a good ballplayer.”
Having Burris back in the lead-off spot also has made a world of difference for the Bears.
“It's great to get Dylan Burris back,” Schaake said. “As soon as he gets real comfortable with his leg, you'll see him running more. The ball he hit to the gap, if he really felt comfortable with his leg, and wanted to push it, that was a normal triple for him. That's OK. He hit the ball hard there, and he hit the line drive right at the left fielder. So those two balls which were the latter parts of his at bats for the two games, you can see things are coming back together for him.”
The Bears scored their finals two runs in the sixth. Messer took first on a wild pitch after a strikeout, and scored on a Burris double to the gap in right center. Burris went to third on another wild pitch, and scored on a Quirin grounder to second for the final margin. Lewis and Seavers pitched the final three innings, allowing only three hits combined while striking out a combined four and walking one in preserving the Bears sweep.
Metro-East have clinched the number one seed in the District 22 playoffs, which begin this week. And that's another reason why it was important for the pitchers to get their work in.
“Only thng we've still got, (Andrew) Yancik's still got the bad shoulder,” Schaake said. “He can DH, and he can run, but he can't throw, that kinda puts a hurt in the pitching, because we had four real strong starters coming out of their high school seasons, with Burns, Coffman and Frank, and then Yancik, and that's a pretty tough four. That's why it's very important to get all thse other pitchers some opportunities to throw. Otherwise, we're going to go into the postseason, and they're not going to be ready.”
