EDWARDSVILLE — As the American Legion baseball season enters the postseason, getting the big hits at key moments can often determing the success of a team in advancing to possibly the Legion World Series in late August and early September.
For the Metro-East Bears, Joel Quirin is swinging the hot bat at the right time for his club. In the final games of the regular season on Saturday evening, Quirin went a combined three for six, gong two for four in the second game with a two-run triple and two run double as part of a five RBI night, as the Bears swept Shelby County, Ill. 3-2 and 9-0 at Hoppe Park in Edwardsville.
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“I felt a little more confident, and a little looser in the second game,” Quirin said in a postgme interview. “The pitchers were throwing it over the plate, and in my second at bat, I was down 0-2, but I felt like I had control of the at bat, and I was able to drive in the right field gap, and get a triple out of that.”
When it comes to the type of pitches Quirin usually looks for during his turns at the plate, he's pretty specific about what might be coming his way.
“Usually, in games like this, I'm looking for a first pitch fastball to hit,” Quirin said. “But once the count gets worked, I'm really, you know, sitting on a curve ball, and in the end, I adjust to a fastball.”
The District 22 playoffs begin this coming week, with the Bears holding the top seed and home field throughout the District tournament. The game-by-game approach to the playoffs is the kind Quirin and his club will be taking.
“Well, I hope to win It all, of course,” Quirin said, “but we just got to take it game by game, you know, compete like we know we can compete, and just play our game.”
And as the Legion playoffs progress, the hot hitting of Joel Quirin is prepared to take the Bears a long way into the postseason journey.
