EDWARDSVILLE – Baseball games can sometimes come down to just one swing of the bat.
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Such was the case in Monday night’s American Legion Illinois District 22 league game between Belleville and Alton at SIU-Edwardsville’s Roy Lee Field.
With Post 126 holding a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, Jack Ysursa stepped to the plate after Ben Steadman and Buddy Gore had reached base; Ysursa got ahold of a Bryce Parish delivery and sent it over the wall in left-center for a three-run homer, enough to give the Hilgards a 3-2 lead over Alton.
The loss dropped Alton to 9-6 overall on the year, 2-1 in District 22; the Hilgards went to 4-6 overall, 3-3 in the league.
“We came out and didn’t play the way we normally play,” said Alton manager Nick Paulda. “We hit way too many balls in the air tonight; we had way too many balls hit into the air tonight, easy pop-flies. I know there were at least five at-bats where we were ahead in the count and we just popped a fastball up in the infield.
“We told them that’s not who we are; we hit doubles, we hit the ball on the ground and we beat it out; we’ve got a lot of speed on our team and we’re not going to hit it over their heads all the time – we need to use what we have and not try to be someone bigger.”
Parish threw a good game for Alton; at one point, he had retired 11 Hilgards in a row in the middle innings and struck out nine in going the distance. “He threw great; he threw exactly what we needed from him,” Paulda said. “He did make the one mistake that ended up deciding the game – he still threw a great game. If we can’t come out here and score more than three runs, we’re going to lose a lot of ball games.
“Anyone can win or lose on any day; we were on the losing part today. We have to flush it, have short-term memory; we can’t be hanging on it too long because we have Valmeyer tomorrow and Highland Wednesday. We’re going to come out ready and I have a feeling we’re going to have a good day tomorrow.”
“I thought the kids played well; we minimized our mistakes and got that one big hit,” said Hilgards manager Greg Eschman. “I actually tell the kids all the time to keep playing; baseball can be funny and funny things can happen. Jack got a fastball down the gut and he gave it a ride; he got all of it.
“Just that one at-bat did it for us; I was proud of my kids.”
Parish’s effort didn’t go unnoticed by Eschman. “He was awful good,” Eschman said. “I think he just got out of rhythm a little bit later in the game and that’s just what it takes, a little something like that and we were fortunate.”
Alton got on the board first in the bottom of the third when Adam Stilts led off the inning with a triple down the right-field line into the corner, allowing Stilts to get to third standing up; Jayce Maag then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Stilts and give Post 126 a 1-0 lead.
The way Parish was pitching, it seemed the lone run would stand up until Steadman got a one-out walk in the top of the sixth, with Gore following with a single to put runners at first and second; Max Schroeder then flew out to center to bring up Ysursa, who drove a Parish pitch to left-center for a three-run homer to put the Hilgards on top.
Post 126 had a chance in the bottom of the seventh when Maag delivered a two-out triple and Cullen McBride singled to put runners at the corners; Parish then singled in Maag to cut the deficit to 3-2, but Ethan Kopsie struck out to end the threat and the game.
Stilts was 1-for-4 with a run scored, Maag 2-for-2 with the triple, RBI and run scored, McBride 1-for-4, Parish 1-for-3 with an RBI and Zaide Wilson 1-for-3 on the evening. Alton will host Valmeyer at 6 p.m. tonight at SIUE and travel to Highland for a 6 p.m. Wednesday game.
