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EDWARDSVILLE – Baseball games can sometimes be decided by an unexpected break.
Such was the case Wednesday night at Hoppe Park when Alton took on Edwardsville in a winner’s bracket game of the Illinois American Legion District 22 playoffs; Post 126’s Wesley Laaker and Post 199’s Andrew Yancik were hooked up in a tight pitcher’s duel, with both pitchers finding ways to keep the other team off the scoreboard.
No baserunners had reached third until the top of the ninth when Elijah Dannenbrink of Alton got to third following a leadoff double down the line in left and a sacrifice from Adam Stilts; Yancik then struck out Jayce Maag and Cullen McBride to put out the threat.
Mikey Hampton then grounded out to start the bottom of the ninth, with Zach Knight having stepped in to pitch for Alton, but Joel Quirin singled and Chase Gockel then reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners at first and second with Alex Schreiber coming to bat.
Schreiber then hit a bouncing ball toward right – but the ball took a high hop at the last moment over Dannenbrink and went into the outfield, allowing Quirin to score the winning run as Edwardsville took a 1-0, nine-inning win over Alton to advance to the championship round of the tournament Friday evening at Hoppe Park.
Alton was relegated to an elimination game against Highland, who defeated Belleville in a Wednesday night elimination game at home; the Highland-Alton game will be at 5:30 p.m. this evening at Redbird Field, with the winner taking on Edwardsville for the District 22 championship; a second game, if needed, would be played following Friday’s first game.
“It was just a great finish,” said Edwardsville manager Ken Schaake. “It very easily could have gone the other way; they got a double down the line and a bunt – (Dannenbrink) was at third with two out and (Yancik) still had a lot left.
"He was feeling good tonight.”
Wednesday’s win was much like the Edwardsville win the previous night when Post 199 had come up with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to eliminate Valmeyer. “A last-inning run to win a ball game, it’s good,” Schaake said.
A game like Wednesday’s was typical for District 22, felt Post 126 manager Nick Paulda. “It happens a lot in this district and it’s happened a lot this week,” Paulda said. “We faced a good pitcher with Valmeyer and got a good outing from Adam (Stilts) and then the same thing with Belleville; they were neck-and-neck all game and coming her tonight, I expected the same thing – that’s exactly what happened.
“Laaker threw exactly what we thought he would and once we saw Yancik was pitching on the mound, we knew we had a tough guy to face – he did just as well. It was going to be the most unlucky team lost; that’s the way it was. That’s the way it works sometimes.”
Yancik went the distance and struck out 13 on the night, while Laaker went eight innings and fanned seven. Tate Wargo went 1-for-4 for Post 199 on the night, with Quirin 1-for-4 with the only run scored, Gockel 1-for-4, Schreiber 2-for-3 with the game-winning RBI and Konnar Loewen 2-for-3; Dannenbrink was 1-for-4 with a double, Cullen McBride 1-for-3, Bryce Parish 2-for-3 and Ben Mossman 1-for-3 with a double.
