EDWARDSVILLE – Kade Burns and Storm Coffman were two key reasons why the Metro East Bears bounced back from 3-0 down to take a key 9-3 Illinois American Legion District 22 win over Belleville's Hilgards at SIU-Edwardsville's Roy Lee Field Tuesday night.
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Burns triggered a six-run bottom of the sixth with a two-run single that brought in Tate Wargo and Will Messer, giving the Bears a 5-3 lead at the time. Jack Lanxon had stepped in to pitch after the bases were loaded thanks to walks to begin the inning and Burns knew what was coming.
“Usually whenever a new pitcher comes in or a mound visit comes in, a first-pitch fastball's usually what's on,” Burns said. “That's what I was going for; I was looking for a first-pitch fastball – I got what I was looking for and I was able to square up. It definitely helps (having faced Lanxon in the high school season against Belleville West) quite a lot during the season and we faced him in the (IHSA Class 4A Edwardsville Regional final).
“I'm kind of familiar with what he throws; he has a really good curveball and his fastball has a little bit of movement to it, so I was just looking to stay on it; it runs away from me a little bit so I was trying not to pull off.”
Belleville had taken an early lead on the Bears, scoring twice in the first and once in the second. “There was a little frustration because we were hitting the ball a little bit, but we were hitting it right at them – they were making plays and they were hitting the ball where we weren't,” Burns said. “They deserved those runs that they got – some of them were unearned, but they still had guys on base because they were getting hits.”
“I started off leaving my pitches elevated and they were hitting the ball pretty good,” Coffman said. “They were on my fastball, but I hung in there and did my thing and my team came back and got a lot of hits for me; that helped out a lot.
“I started using my curveball a lot more later in the game; from the fourth or fifth inning, I started settling down and used my curveball a lot more.”
That the Bears were able to bounce back from being down early meant something – it showed they have the ability to rally from behind. “It shows a lot that we can come back any time; it doesn't matter how much we're down,” Coffman said, “especially since it was Belleville (who had rallied to take a win from the Bears in Belleville several days before).”
“It's always fun to have a comeback victory,” Burns said. “We've faced some good teams, but we haven't really had a lot of close, tough games like this one where we had to come back and fight and claw for every run we had.”
