SAUGET • The Carlyle High baseball team got a chance to flex its muscles at 6,100 seat GCS Ballpark in Sauget on Monday.

The Indians hope to get the opportunity to do it again.

With IHSA sectional and super-sectional post-season games scheduled for big stadiums such as GCS, the Indians showed they are comfortable in the larger environs by beating Alton 7-4 in a nonconference battle between large and small-school toughies.

“This is different than our regular ball game,” Indians senior infielder Ricky Huge said. “The ball comes at you fast. It's smoother and you don't have bad hops or anything. You just play your game and you don't have to worry about anything else."

The Indians, who are in Class 2A, enjoyed throttling the bigger Redbirds, who hold an enrollment advantage of 2,020-340.

"Alton is a 4A ball club and we're from the small town of Carlyle," Huge said. "This just gives us momentum.”

Carlyle (15-1, No. 1 in the STLhighschoolsports.com small-schools rankings) exploded for five runs in the fourth inning to take control. The Indians sent 10 batters to the plate and did all of their work on just three hits.

Huge's two-out single paved the way for a bevy of Alton miscues, which Carlyle parlayed into the lead.

 
 
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Two runs scored on errors and a third came home on a wild pitch. Adam Alexander had the only RBI in the frame.

“You name it, it went wrong,” Alton coach Todd Haug said. “We had more errors in that inning than we've had in the last 10 games.”

Huge, who went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, slapped a two-run double early in the game. Jacob Kanallakan temporarily gave Alton (10-4) the lead at 3-2 with a sacrifice fly.

Dru Johnson was 1-for-2 with a triple and two runs scored for the Indians.

Landon Michael earned the win for Carlyle. Colin Szczeblewski claimed the save.

“You put pressure on people, it doesn't matter what class you play," Carlyle coach Rusty Barr. "Even good ball clubs will hiccup. That's a big part of our game.”

The Indians only loss was a 7-0 setback at home against Columbia last week.

“We've bounced back and we're playing the way we want to now," Huge said. "We're on a good streak now and we want to keep it that way.”