CARMI – The Metro East Bears American Legion baseball team is in another playoff championship round.
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The Bears advanced to the Illinois American Legion Fifth Division final, set for noon today, with a 7-5 win Wednesday over Murphysboro. They had advanced into that game with a 9-7 win over Harrisburg Tuesday afternoon thanks to a two-run homer from Maverick McSparin in the bottom of the eighth.
The Bears will take on either Murphysboro or Teutopolis in today’s final; the Bears will need to win just one game to move to next week’s Illinois state tournament in Wheaton, while their opponent will have to win twice coming from the loser’s bracket in the double-elimination tournament. Regardless of the result, the Bears will take part in the Aug. 5-9 American Legion Great Lakes Regional tournament at Gordon Moore Park/Lloyd Hopkins Field as host team.
“We did enough to win the game,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake. “We made some mistakes and had too many runners left on base, but we also took advantage of some opportunities and scored when the chances were there.
“We just had one bad inning; they got four runs off Ben Cusac, but we still won the game and advanced. That’s the main thing right now.”
Jordan Hovey had two home runs and a double to lead the Metro East attack, while Cusac pitched seven innings and gave up four earned runs. Connor Melton came in in the eighth and retired the side in order, but loaded the bases in the ninth with no one out before striking out the side to preserve the win.
Tuesday, the Bears got a two-run homer from McSparin in the bottom of the eighth to take a see-saw 9-7 win over Harrisburg to advance to the game against Murphysboro; Murphysboro had advanced by defeating Herrin 10-8 in the game immediately following the Bears' win.
“We struggled a bit,” Schaake said. “It took awhile for us to get untracked and we made a few mistakes that we usually don't make. But as I told the team after the game, even after going over the mistakes we made, I said that the bottom line is that we won.
"We competed pretty well; we just can't take things for granted, especially the deeper we get. Harrisburg has a good team.”
Eleven of the game's 16 runs came via the home run, including a fourth-inning grand slam from Aaron Jackson that gave the Bears the lead, but Harrisburg refused to fold, scoring six times in the seventh to take the lead back, but the Bears got the lead back in the bottom of the seventh before Harrisburg tied it up in the eighth.
That led to the Bears' winning runs in the bottom of the inning. Nick Paulda reached base on an infield hit before McSparin's two-run shot that proved to be the winner. Harrisburg had a two-run homer in the first and a three-run shot in the fourth.
Schaake said as the tournament progresses, the stakes get higher and higher. “You move on to the next game, and you realize things get harder and the stakes higher,” Schaake said.
