The long layoff the Metro East Bears American Legion team had to endure last week seemingly didn't affect them much.
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The Bears scored three times off the first five pitches they faced and went on to defeat St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association team American-National of Hazelwood 4-1 at Gordon Moore Park/Lloyd Hopkins Field Monday night.
“We've got kids that will go out there and compete,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake. “We got three hits right away with wood bats and then the home run came from an aluminum bat (which was allowed for the game), so that was good to see.
“Jacob St. Peters set the tone for us early on, and we had some good pitching and had guys make plays behind our pitchers on defense. We did have a couple of errors, but it didn't hurt us.”
St. Peters was one of six pitchers used on the night by the Bears, mostly to get some work in after the long layoff. St. Peters retired the side in order in the first two innings and gave way to Kory Loew, who did the same. “We were throwing strikes and making some good pitches in there, and you can't ask for much more than that,” Schaake said.
Drake Hampton opened the game with a hard-hit triple to left-center and came home when Maverick McSparin doubled to center with one out. Matt Zielonko then came to bat and jumped all over the second pitch he saw, sending it over the fence in left-center for a quick 3-0 Bears lead.
Metro East threatened to score more runs when Caleb Buhs doubled and Nick Paulda singled to put runners at the corners, but Loew and Anthony Kindle were retired to end the threat.
American-National was in the same situation as the Bears; they hadn't played since winning a tournament in Chicago the weekend before. “We haven't played since that Chicago tournament,” said Eagle manager Bill Becher. “Considering the circumstances, we played pretty well. That's a good team over there, a class organization with good people running it.
“Our pitching wasn't bad and we had some good plays on defense. I really don't have any complaints about the game tonight.”
The Eagles got on the board in the fourth when Ethan Wallace reached on a fielder's choice with two out, followed by a Mitchell Brown walk and a RBI single from Matt Mellring to bring home Wallace. Undaunted, Bear Pitching allowed only one more runner the rest of the game, Adam Frank reaching on an error in the fifth.
The Bears got an insurance run in the sixth when Buhs led off with a single and Paulda walked. With two out Kindle singled in Buhs for the final tally of the game.
The Bears took their record to 8-1 on the season with the win; the Eagles fell to 11-6. The Bears have Tuesday off, then host Highland at 8 p.m. Wednesday before they travel to Belleville Thursday night and take part in a weekend tournament in Festus, Mo.
