EDWARDSVILLE – One swing of the bat.
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That's all it took.
That one swing came off the bat of Blake Vandiver, who had a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the fifth gave the Metro East Bears a 5-2 lead at the time and triggered an eight-run explosion as the Bears advanced in the Illinois American Legion District 22 playoffs with a 9-2 win over Smithton/Freeburg at Edwardsville's Hoppe Park Wednesday night.
The win put the Bears (30-7) into a winner's bracket game at 7 tonight at Hoppe Park against Highland, who defeated Belleville 7-1 Tuesday night to advance; Smithton was relegated to an elimination game at Belleville against the Hilgards at 7 p.m. tonight, with the winner facing tonight's Bears-Highland loser in a 7 p.m. Friday elimination game. The final is set for Saturday at the highest remaining seed, with a second game to be played if necessary immediately following; the time for the final has yet to be announced.
The Bears had fallen behind early when Smithton scored twice in the top of the first; the 76ers had managed to shut the Bear offense down to preserve the lead, Metro East scoring once in the fourth to pull to 2-1 before the fifth-inning explosion. “They did make adjustments, but I think I think the big thing along that line is chemistry,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake. “They fit well together; if someone's not hitting, it doesn't bother the team – they don't get on him. Everybody's there knowing they can hit and the other person's going to be able to hit.
“They don't get down on anybody and there were no challenges going on in the dugout the first couple of innings about not getting the key hits or anything like that; they were just playing their game. You only get so many chances in a seven-inning game and they worked real hard to tie the score and had the big inning to go ahead. That takes the air out of someone else's sails.”
That it did; Smithton had grabbed the lead early on off starting pitcher Kade Burns when George Weaver had singled in Landon Touchette; a subsequent error on the play brought in Joe Range to put the 76ers on top 2-0. The Bears had chances first and second to get on the board, but timely defensive plays by Smithton and strikeouts at the right times helped keep them off the board.
The Bears broke through in the fourth when Corey Price had a one-out double and came home on a Tate Wargo single to cut the lead to 2-1. In the fifth, the Bears opened with singles from Konnor Loewen and Dylan Burris before Burns and Joel Quirin managed to draw walks to bring in Loewen to tie the game.
That brought up Vandiver, who saw a pitch he liked and got around on it to drive it down the line to the right-field corner for a triple, bringing in Burris, Burns and Quirin to take the lead at 5-2. Price then drew a walk to put runners at first and second before Cole Hansel stepped up with one out; Hansel singled in Vandiver and Price to increase the lead to 7-2. One out later, Will Messer reached on an error to bring Burris up to bat for the second time in the inning. Burris doubled in Hansel and Messer for a 9-2 lead.
From that point, Burns took over; he had settled in from the third and retired the last nine Smithton batters he faced; for the evening, he gave up an earned run on three hits while dismissing seven by strikeout.
Burris went 2-for-4 for the Bears with a double, two RBIs and a run scored; Burns was 1-for-3 with a double and run scored, Quirin had a RBI and run scored, Vandiver 1-for-4 with his triple and three RBIs, Price 1-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, Wargo 1-for-3, Hansel 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, Loewen 1-for-2 with a run scored and Messer a run scored.
