EDWARDSVILLE – Alton American Legion Post 126's junior baseball team added some Senior Legion teams to their 2017 schedule to allow the junior Legionnaires to face some tougher competition over the summer.
Post 126 certainly passed one test Tuesday evening as they defeated Smithton's senior team 6-2 at SIU-Edwardsville's Roy Lee Field.
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Alton was coming off a win in a tournament in Breese over the weekend and ran their record to 11-3 on the summer with the win.
“We wanted to put a couple of senior teams on our schedule,” said Alton manager Dennis Sharp. “The kids are in the kind of position to where a lot of the guys have played varsity (high school) ball and they're a little more aggressive for the younger freshmen and junior teams. I've got some senior programs on our summer (schedule) so we can learn to challenge up, and they met the challenge tonight.
“They hit the ball well, moved up, got a few bunts and Adam (Stilts) comes in and shuts them down – tonight was successful.”
Alton's Ryan Best got the ball early and faced the minimum in the first three innings thanks to a couple of good plays that eliminated Smithton base runners. “Ryan worked well early,” Sharp said. “We went to changes (change-up pitches) and curve balls first, then fast balls. Adam's then lights-out; we can bring him in and shut it down.”
Alton got on the board in the first when Best and Bryce Parrish drew walks; both came home on a Cullen McBride double that put Alton ahead 2-0; Post 126 got another run in the third when Best opened the inning with a single and was sacrificed over to second by Gage Booten; Parrish then stepped up and doubled in Best in up the lead to 3-0.
“The way we hit the ball” stood out for Sharp on the evening. “I didn't know how we'd hit the senior pitching; we've been working a lot on front-hand mechanics. We hit the ball well (in the Breese tournament), but when you have a little more velocity clip tonight, I didn't know if we'd be behind (on the counts).
“The kids choked up an inch, they paid attention and got up, were aggressive with the bats and we punched in some good singles.”
Smithton countered with a solo run in the top of the fourth, but Alton scored three times in the bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a RBI single from Stilts and a RBI triple from Brendan Walker to cap off their scoring for the game; Smtihton added a single run in the fifth, but couldn't score again.
Best went 1-for-2 with two runs scored for Alton, with Booten going 1-for-2, Parrish 1-for-2 with a double, RBI and run scored, McBride 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Ben Mossman a run scored, Rylee Bernot 1-for-3, Stilts 1-for-2 with a RBI and run scored and Walker 1-for-3 with a triple, RBI and run scored. Best got the win for Alton, striking out two; Stilts fanned four for Alton in relief.
The junior Legionnaires take on Valmeyer at 6 p.m. today at SIUE before playing Highland 1 at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the road, then hosting Eureka, Mo., at 6 p.m. Friday and Jerseyville in a 1 p.m. Saturday doubleheader; both those games are at Alton High's Redbird Field.
