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It took awhile, but after a pair of rainouts, the Metro East Bears American Legion team managed to get onto the field against Fairview Heights Sunday evening.
The venue of the game was changed to Roy Lee Field at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, and the Bears managed to get a split of a doubleheader against the Giants, falling 4-3 in 11 innings in the opener before taking the nightcap 4-1.
The split gave the Bears an overall record of 18-6 overall and 6-2 in Illinois District 22, tied with Belleville for first place but with the Bears owning the tiebreaker. The District 22 playoffs are slated to begin Tuesday, with pairings to be announced; Metro East will play Highland and Fairview Heights will meet Belleville in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament, with all games scheduled for nine innings. Fifth-placed East St. Louis has withdrawn from the tournament and will not play.
“We would have liked to win them both, but we'll take it,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake, referring to the way the Bears lost the opener on a bases-loaded walk to Brady Schanuel that forced in Nick Crabtree. “It was a tough way to lose, and Aaron (Jackson, who was on the mound in the 11th for the Bears) doesn't show a lot of emotion; he was pretty upset about what happened and so was his catcher (Nick Paulda).
“But he bounced back and got some key hits for us in the second game. That was really great to see.”
The Bears scored once each in the fourth and sixth, Chance Foss drawing a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to put Metro East ahead, and Kyle Zach singling in Anthony Kindle in the sixth to take a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. But the Giants' got a RBI single from Nick Martin to bring in Schanuel and Derrek Rozycke grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop to drive in Kyle Boewe to tie the game and force extras.
Both teams scored in the ninth, the Bears when Jordan Hovey drew a walk to bring in Foss to regain the lead and the Giants countering on a well-executed suicide squeeze by Chris Dye that scored Rozycke to keep the game going.
Ben Cusac got the ball in the nightcap and pitched effectively, giving up seven hits while striking out six and walking one. Jackson got the Bears going in the third when he delivered a bases-clearing triple to right-center that scored Drake Hampton, Hovey and Matt Zeilonko after the Giants had taken the lead in the first. The final run came in the fourth when Hampton tripled to left and came home on a Hovey RBI single.
The District 22 playoffs are scheduled to run through Friday, with the winner advancing to the Illinois Fifth Division Tournament, set for July 20-23 in Carmi. The Fifth Division winner advances to the Illinois State Tournament July 29-Aug. 2 in Wheaton, with the state champion moving on to the American Legion Great Lakes Regional Aug. 5-9 at Lloyd Hopkins Field; the Bears will participate in the regional tournament as host team under Legion rules.
