A new era in area American Legion baseball opened at Gordon Moore Park/Lloyd Hopkins Field Friday night.
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The game marked the debut of the Metro East Bears, a team made up of players from Bethalto, Edwardsville, Alton and Roxana.
The Bears' debut was a successful one too, as they bounced back from a early deficit with a six-run first inning on their way to a 9-3 win over Festus (Mo.) Post 253.
“We had some good at-bats,” said Bears assistant coach Nick Smith, who ran the team in place of long-time Edwardsville Legion coach Ken Schaake Friday. “We took some good approaches in our at-bats, showed some patience and hit on some good pitches.”
Like any summer team, there will be a bit of an adjustment period as the players – all coming off high school seasons – get used to each other, but Smith believes the team will jell together quickly. “Our main focus will be to be as competitive as we can,” Smith said. “We had a really good effort tonight and there's no doubt we'll be able to score. We have some solid pitching as well
“So long as our defense, pitching and hitting are competitive and work hard, we'll be fine.”
Festus got off to a quick start in the top of the first, Seth Castleman getting a one-out single and scoring right away off a Andrew Hatter double off Bears pitcher Jake St. Peters of Alton. Ethan Leando then launched a shot to left that cleared the fence to put Festus up 3-0.
The Bears answered back immediately, starting walks issued to Drake Hampton, Maverick McSparin and Nick Paluda with a Conner Melton single that brought home the first Bear run. Jake Skarbacz reached on a fielder's choice and a series of hit batsmen and walks brought home five more runs to put the Bears up 6-3 through the first inning.
Two more runs came home in the second thanks to two-out hits from Caleb Buhs, Skrabacz and Kory Loew to put the Bears up further, and a RBI single in the sixth from Skrabacz drove in Buhs to give Metro East one final run.
St. Peters settled down after the first and struck out 10 Festus batters.
The 1-0 Bears host Eureka, Mo., at 7 p.m. Sunday, then travels to Jerseyville Tuesday night and Festus Wednesday night. Their next home game is at 7:30 p.m. June 15 against Ballwin, Mo.
