Erler the Hurler leads Alton past Belleville West

Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com

Published 11:17 am, Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Photo:

Telegraph File Photo

Alton’s Charlie Erler, shown during a Class 4A regional semifinal last season at Edwardsville, tossed a two-hitter Tuesday to lead the Redbirds to a 2-1 Southwestern Conference victory over the Belleville West Maroons in Belleville.

The Alton Redbirds were able to squeeze only two runs out from their nine hits Tuesday in Belleville.

That enough for Alton pitcher Charlie Erler.

The right-hander signed with Division I Lipscomb fired a two-hitter to lead the Redbirds to a 2-1 Southwestern Conference baseball victory at West. The SWC win was the first for Alton, which improves to 6-6 and 1-3 in the league. West is 6-11 and 2-4 in the SWC.

The Maroons scored their lone run in the first inning before Erler settled in and finished with five near-perfect innings facing the minimum 15 batters. The one Maroon to reach base in stretch was throw out stealing. Erler struck out seven and walked three on 107 pitches to halt a Redbirds’ losing streak at three in a row.

Each of the first seven hitters in Alton’s lineup had a hit, with Robby Taul and Adam Stilts each getting two. The Redbirds tied it on Riley Phillips’ RBI in the third inning. The winning run came in the sixth after a West error and an Alton sacrifice bunt set up Stilts, who came through with a RBI single to center.

Joey Kossina had both of West’s hits. Will Lanxon took the loss, working six innings while allowing two runs (zero earned) on seven hits, one walk and four strikeouts.

Marquette Catholic 18, Madison 1 – Explorers pitcher Jacob Zacha needed just 49 pitches to toss a five-inning one-hitter to beat the Trojans in Madison. Marquette, coming off three successive losses to large schools, moves to 9-5.

Zacha struck out eight and walked one while yielding only an unearned run. Conner Noss had two hits, including a solo home run, for the Explorers, who got three hits and two RBIs from Garrett Weiner and two hits, three RBIs from Montana Gossage and two RBIs from both Kaleb Ware and Brandon Lloyd.

Litchfield 6, Carlinville 3 – Andrew DeLaCruz and Billy Beckham combined for six hits and five RBIs to power the Purple Panthers past the Cavaliers in a South Central Conference game in Carlinville.

Joe Fraser drove in three runs for the Cavs, who were limited to three hits while committing five errors. Garrett Campbell struck out 11 in six innings, but took the loss. He gave five runs on seven hits and two walks.

Calhoun 8, Greenfield 7 – Trent Buchanan’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Warriors a WIVC walk-off win over the Tigers in Hardin. Calhoun stays unbeaten in the league at 3-0 and goes to 8-7 overall. Greenfield is 7-9.

Greenfield scored three runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-6 lead after wiping out a 5-1 deficit. Calhoun loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, but a forceout at the plate and a strikeout put the burden on Buchanan. A.J. Hillen worked two scoreless innings of relief for the win.

Conner Gilman and Corey Nelson both had three hits, and Gilman matched Buchanan with two RBIs for the Warriors, who outhit the Tigers 12-11 and overcame four errors.

Greenfield’s Clayton Woods took the loss after starter Hayden Lansaw covered the first six innings. Devin Chaudoin drove in three runs, Jacob Lansaw had three hits, Blake Meyer had two doubles and joined Blake Woelfel and Matt Walker with two hits.

Carrollton 12, North Greene 0 – The Hawks routed the Spartans in a WIVC clash in Carrollton to run their record to 10-3-1. North Greene is 1-10. The teams play again Thursday in White Hall.

TENNIS

Marquette 7, McCluer North 0 – The Explorers went unchallenged in sweeping a single pro-set dual with the Stars. Daniel McCluskey, A.J. Bower, Nathan Joehle, Marc Tassinari and Greg Root won singles. McCluskey and Bower, and Nathan Walters and Cole DeClue won doubles matches.

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