EDWARDSVILLE – Alton Post 126 pitcher Griffin Bianco pitched well in five innings against New Athens Post 246 on Monday night, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out two and walking no one in New Athens’ 3-2 win over Alton in an American Legion District 22 game at Roy E. Lee Field at SIU-Edwardsville.

“it was a good game,” Bianco said in a postgame interview. “Left a few up in the zone, caused them to score runs, but we battled back, ending up losing by one, but it was a really good game.”

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Bianco’s most effective pitch was his change-up, which helped keep the New Athens hitters off-balance most of the evening.

“I use the same motion as with my fastball,” Bianco said. “I don’t really change it much, so it’s hard to pick up for the hitters.”

And when the change isn’t working, Bianco relies on his fastball, and sometimes his curveball, to get the opposing batsmen out. And Bianco also got some good run support as well, with one in the first and another in the sixth, but couldn’t score again after that.

“Yeah, that happens,” Bianco said. “It’s a fun game; we’ll battle back.”

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The Legionnaires play again on Tuesday night at home against East St. Louis, and Bianco enjoys the competition, not just in District 22, but in everything that he plays.

“I enjoy, really, all competition in sports,” Bianco said, “especially baseball. I mean, you never know. Doesn’t matter what their record is, whoever shows up is going to win. So, that’s the beauty of baseball, in my opinion.”

As far as goals, Bianco has some very simple ones he’s set for both himself and his team.

“Some goals are, just to improve every day,” Bianco said, “and hopefully, win our district, division, and battle back to the state tournament, like we were in last year, so I mean, that’s the main goal right now. It’s going to be a fun year.”

But before that come the District 22 games, a good out-of-district schedule, and the annual Firecracker tournament over the Fourth of July weekend. Bianco is looking forward to the competition in those games, and it’s something he enjoys very much.

“Just good competition makes you better,” Bianco said. “You don’t want to play (bad) teams all the time, so the better the competition, the better you’ll become in the long run, so that’s what I enjoy most about it.”

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