SATURDAY’S PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Alton’s Phillips, Taul combine to no-hit Coal City

Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com

 Published 1:24 pm CDT, Sunday, March 17, 2019

Photo:

Greg Shashack / The Telegraph

Alton third baseman Adam Stilts makes a throw to first during Friday’s PBR Kickoff Classic game against Lockport in Granite City. The Redbirds opened at home Saturday morning and defeated Coal City.

Pitch-count concerns in his season’s first start on a cool March morning led to Riley Phillips’ departure after five hitless innings Saturday.

Phillips was gone, but the no-hitter was not.

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Robby Taul came in to pick up a save and complete the no-hitter in the Alton Redbirds’ 2-0 victory over the Coal City Coalers in a Prep Baseball Report Kickoff Classic game at Alton High in Godfrey.

After opening with losses to Chatham Glenwood and Lockport, the 1-2 Redbirds picked up their first victory. Coal City, coming off wins over Teutopolis and Harrisburg, is 2-1.

Alton broke through in the fourth inning on a single by Taul, a double by Jackson Brooks and Phillips’ RBI single to break a 0-0 tie. Jalen Wilson’s two-out RBI single in the fifth put the Redbirds up 2-0 and Phillips left after giving no hits with two walks and eight strikeouts on 68 pitches.

Taul worked around a one-out walk in the sixth to retire the final five Coalers and preserve the no-hitter. Coal City’s Tyson Spencer took the loss, allowing two runs on five hits, no walks and three strikeouts in six innings. Alton’s five hits came from five different Redbirds.