EDWARDSVILLE – A few members of the Metro East Bears know what state tournament success is like.
So do the players on Valmeyer's American Legion baseball team.
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Valmeyer's Philip Reinhardt especially.
Reinhardt had a very successful freshman year for the Pirates in 2017, going 9-1 on the mound with a 0.95 earned-run average to help his school reach the IHSA Class 1A final, where the Pirates fell to Peoria Heights 6-2 in the championship game.
Reinhardt came in and shut the Bears down at SIU-Edwardsville's Roy Lee Field Tuesday night, giving up just three hits to a team that included several members of Edwardsville's IHSA Class 4A runners-up as Valmeyer scored a 1-0, eight-inning win over the Bears to send Metro East to 8-4 overall, 2-1 in District 22; Valmeyer improved to 3-1 overall, 2-1 in the district.
The Bears' Storm Coffman himself had a pretty solid outing, keeping Valmeyer off the board and getting some key plays and outs when he needed them before Valmeyer finally scored in the top of the eighth.
“He was able to get his breaking pitch over consistently,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake of Reinhardt. “He had that, his change-up and fastball – he's getting all three pitches over consistently. We hit two or three (balls) hard over to center field and the balls we did hit were one-hops to the shortstop or hit one right at the first baseman.
“He (Reinhardt) pitched a good ball game; he made the pitches when he needed to, got our guys out and I think we took a little too many strikes and didn't make the adjustments late in the counts when he was getting those pitches over.”
“Tyler (Kempfer, Valmeyer's catcher) called a good game, the defense was great,” Reinhardt said. “I was out there relaxed and doing my thing, having fun. I don't throw the hardest, but I get that off-speed (pitch) going – a lot of first-pitch curveballs and they were just taking it.
“I knew we'd score eventually; I just didn't know when. He (Coffman) pitched a good game too – it was a good battle overall.”
Valmeyer threatened to score in the top of the second, getting runners to second and third with one out, but Coffman retired the next two batters to keep Valmeyer scoreless; Reinhardt, on the other hand, kept the Bears in check, giving up just two hits – both to Blake Vandiver – through the first seven innings.
Coffman himself kept coming up with the big pitch when he needed one to keep the game scoreless; no runner from the third through the seventh got farther than second before Cole Jelfs opened the eighth with a double and went to third on an Easton Wallace second. Zack Kreker then stepped up and doubled to center to bring home Jelfs, but a Kreker was thrown out at the plate to keep the game at 1-0. Coffman then got Reinhardt to pop out to him for the second out and induced Kempfer to ground out to third to end the inning.
The Bears' Will Messer got his team's third hit, a single, to open the bottom of the eighth and was sacrificed to second by Kade Burns to give Metro East a shot, but Reinhardt fanned Brandon Hampton and got Dane Sellars to ground to second to end the game.
Vandiver went 2-for-3 for the Bears while Messer, one of several Edwardsville players joining the team Tuesday, was 1-for-3. Coffman struck out five on the night in taking the loss, while Reinhardt fanned six for Valmeyer in getting the win.
Metro East is back at SIUE for an 8 p.m. Wednesday game against Smithton before traveling to Highland for an 8 p.m. Thursday game and taking part in a wood-bat tournament in Festus, Mo., beginning Friday and running through Sunday.
