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EDWARDSVILLE – The chance to clinch the Illinois American Legion District 22 regular-season championship was there for the Metro East Bears Tuesday night.
The Bears, who had defeated Highland on the road Monday night 5-2, stood at 2-1 in the league going into their District 22 finale (the district had been reduced to three teams following Fairview Heights' folding before the season started), but the Bears fell to Belleville – who defeated Metro East in Belleville last week – 4-3 at SIU-Edwardsville's Roy E. Lee Field and forced them to have to wait for Thursday night's outcome between the Hilgards and Highland at Highland's Glik Park to see where they wind up.
A Highland win over Belleville would put all three teams in the district at 2-2, leaving everyone's fate in the hands of a tiebreaking formula heading into the district playoffs.
Bears manager Ken Schaake, who had already seen his team defeat St. Louis-based side American National 11-5 earlier in the day in a game moved up to Tuesday due to a scheduling mixup, was disappointed the Bears couldn't take care of business against the Hilgards. “We talked about that last night (after the Bears' win against Highland) and we had the opportunity to come out here tonight and play for first place. I don't know how much more you have to say to somebody to get some intensity and come out ready to play from the very first pitch.
“We did not do that. Our pitcher (Jacob St. Peters) wasn't as sharp as he needed to be; he walked some guys and we made some errors in the field. The go-ahead run (after the Bears had tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth), they scored on two walks and a wild pitch and a ground ball to the second baseman. We had just tied the game up and the first thing we do is walk guys, throw a wild pitch.”
“I gotta give it up to those guys today,” said Hilgards manager Jonathon Schweppe about the Hilgards, who had only 11 players available for the game Tuesday. “Those are guys who don't get a lot of playing time; we're missing a lot and those guys stepped up huge today – huge.
“We had pitcher in left, pitcher in right, second baseman playing center; we had a backup catcher playing third who played a phenomenal game (Gavin Strieker, who came up big twice on the Bears' Cole Cimarolli, including a key double play in the third when Cimarolli hit a drive down the line that Strieker nabbed, tagged third for an out and then fired a strike to first to nab Cimarolli to finish off a double play); he made some fantastic plays that saved us the game.”
Belleville grabbed the lead in the top of the third when Logan Betz lifted a triple that brought home two runs and scored himself on a St. Peters wild pitch to take a 3-0 lead on the Bears; Metro East countered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles from Drake Hampton, Chance Foss and Steven Patten to draw level through four innings.
As things would have it, Matt Sisk gave the Hilgards the lead back on a leadoff walk in the fifth, then advanced to second on a steal and to third on a groundout to second before coming home with the lead run on a wild pitch. Sisk, who got the win on the mound for the Hilgards, then shut the Bears down the rest of the way to preserve their second 4-3 win in a week.
Patten led the Bears with a 2-for-3 day with a RBI, with Hampton going 1-for-3 with a RBI and Foss 1-for-2 with a RBI for the Bears (11-4 overall, 2-2 in the district), with Mitchell Krebs getting the other Bears hit. St. Peters took the loss, going 4.1 innings while giving up four earned runs on three hits and fanning four.
Against American National, Jake Garella had a 2-for-4 game with a double and RBI to lead the Bears; Drake Hampton was 2-for-4 with a RBI, Tyler Stamer was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Tate Wargo was 2-for-4, Cimarolli was 1-for-3, Foss 1-for-3 with a RBI, Cole Hansel 1-for-3 with a RBI and Maverick McSparin 1-for-3. Brandon Hampton got the win for the Bears, giving up an earned run on two hits and striking out five in three innings pitched.
The Bears will be part of the Southwestern Illinois Firecracker Tournament this weekend, with their pool being played in Jerseyville; they'll take on Jerseyville at 10 am. Saturday and Fulton, Mo., at 12:15 p.m. Saturday, then meet Aviston at 12:15 p.m. Sunday, followed by a 2:30 p.m. Sunday game against St. Charles, Mo, to complete group play. The semifinals and final are set for Monday in Jerseyville, with the final set for 3:30 p.m.
