Redbirds fall to EHS in title game - The Telegraph - 5/26/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
Redbirds fall to EHS in title game
Edwardsville rolls past Alton
Matt Kamp For The Telegraph
Updated
Photo:
Matt Kamp, Intelligencer | For The Telegraph
IMAGE 1 OF 13
Edwardsville’s Joe Copeland, left, slides safely into home ahead of the tag by Alton catcher Owen Stendeback in the Class 4A Alton Regional championship game on Saturday at AHS.
ALTON — Following Edwardsville’s 8-1 victory over Alton Saturday in the championship game of the Alton Class 3A Regional, both baseball teams felt there was work remaining to be done.
But only Edwardsville will get a chance to finish that work this season.
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“Coming back, I appreciate everything the group has done. It’s not easy with a coaching change. The kids worked hard. I wish we could have been a little bit more successful,” said Alton coach Scott Harper, who returned to the AHS dugout from Roxana this year. He also coached Alton in 2007 and 2008.
Like the previous meeting this season between the two teams, Edwardsville took advantage of a wild Alton pitching staff. The Redbirds walked 11, including seven through the first two innings.
Alton pitchers walked 10 in a walk-off 6-5 Edwardsville victory April 26. On Saturday, six of Edwardsville’s eight runs were scored by runners who walked. Alton ends its season at 14-19 — its fewest victories since going 14-20 in 2010. The Redbirds finished under .500 for the second consecutive season for the first time since 1998-99.
“We could have easily rolled over and been short-gamed after five,” Harper said, “but the kids kept battling.”
Jackson Brooks had two of Alton’s three hits.
Edwardsville (32-5) advances to face Belleville West (27-7) in the semifinals of the Illinois Wesleyan Sectional. A time and location hasn’t been announced.
“We have to take this one game at a time. The ultimate goal is state. Today isn’t the end goal,” said EHS catcher Jacob Kitchen, who had a two-run double in the third inning to break the game open.
The Maroons defeated the O’Fallon Panthers (25-9) 6-4 to win the Granite City Regional on Saturday.
EHS and Belleville West split its two meetings in the regular season.
Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser, who has 14 regional titles with the program, hopes to carry the winning formula from the Alton Regional into the sectional.
“Getting good pitching, timely hitting and good defense have done pretty well in the past for the winning team. Fortunately, we were on that side today,” Funkhouser said. “I really like the way our guys compete and cherish the opportunity to play at Edwardsville.
“Coach (Mike) Waldo always said to not take winning a regional for granted and we aren’t going to. These are special.”
“We were able to capitalize on the walks and score,” Kitchen said.
Edwardsville opened up a 1-0 lead in the second when Joe Toscano scored on a wild pitch. He walked with one out, moved to second on a walk to Kitchen and to third on a wild pitch.
EHS loaded the bases on three straight walks — two from Alton starter Riley Phillips and one from reliever Michael Reeder — to start the inning. He nearly worked his way out of the jam, getting a force out at home and a fly out to shallow center.
Toscano, facing a 1-2 count, hit a two-run single to extend the lead to 3-0.
Kitchen followed with a long two-run double into left field, making it 5-0.
“We were able to survive through the first two innings, but then they were able to get the two big hits with the bases loaded. It makes it a challenge,” Harper said. “We gave up a base hit off the end of the bat and then Kitchen, their MVP, ripped the ball over our left fielder’s head.”
Getting the start in place of Dalton Wallace, who was ejected in Wednesday’s game against Quincy, Kitchen went 2 of 3 with two RBIs. He also had two hits in the win over Quincy.
Phillips didn’t allow a hit in his two innings of work, but he walked seven and allowed three runs. He struck out four. Reeder allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and a strikeout in three innings of relief.
The five runs were more than enough support for EHS starting pitcher Matthew Boyer, who allowed two hits and struck out six in five innings. He threw 71 pitches.
“All of my pitches were working. I was able to throw my secondary pitches whenever I needed to. I felt good all week leading into this start,” Boyer said.
EHS added two runs in the fourth, getting an RBI double by Max Ringering and a sacrifice fly from Josh Ohl, for the 7-0 lead.
After Alton scored on an infield RBI single by Robby Taul, Edwardsville got the run back on Ringering’s single to score Westcott for the 8-1 lead.
Edwardsville finished with seven hits, including two apiece from Joe Copeland, Ringering and Kitchen.
Westcott scored three runs and walked in all four of his plate appearances.
Redbirds fall to EHS in title game
Edwardsville rolls past Alton
Matt Kamp For The Telegraph
Updated
Photo:
Matt Kamp, Intelligencer | For The Telegraph
IMAGE 1 OF 13
Edwardsville’s Joe Copeland, left, slides safely into home ahead of the tag by Alton catcher Owen Stendeback in the Class 4A Alton Regional championship game on Saturday at AHS.
ALTON — Following Edwardsville’s 8-1 victory over Alton Saturday in the championship game of the Alton Class 3A Regional, both baseball teams felt there was work remaining to be done.
But only Edwardsville will get a chance to finish that work this season.
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“Coming back, I appreciate everything the group has done. It’s not easy with a coaching change. The kids worked hard. I wish we could have been a little bit more successful,” said Alton coach Scott Harper, who returned to the AHS dugout from Roxana this year. He also coached Alton in 2007 and 2008.
Like the previous meeting this season between the two teams, Edwardsville took advantage of a wild Alton pitching staff. The Redbirds walked 11, including seven through the first two innings.
Alton pitchers walked 10 in a walk-off 6-5 Edwardsville victory April 26. On Saturday, six of Edwardsville’s eight runs were scored by runners who walked. Alton ends its season at 14-19 — its fewest victories since going 14-20 in 2010. The Redbirds finished under .500 for the second consecutive season for the first time since 1998-99.
“We could have easily rolled over and been short-gamed after five,” Harper said, “but the kids kept battling.”
Jackson Brooks had two of Alton’s three hits.
Edwardsville (32-5) advances to face Belleville West (27-7) in the semifinals of the Illinois Wesleyan Sectional. A time and location hasn’t been announced.
“We have to take this one game at a time. The ultimate goal is state. Today isn’t the end goal,” said EHS catcher Jacob Kitchen, who had a two-run double in the third inning to break the game open.
The Maroons defeated the O’Fallon Panthers (25-9) 6-4 to win the Granite City Regional on Saturday.
EHS and Belleville West split its two meetings in the regular season.
Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser, who has 14 regional titles with the program, hopes to carry the winning formula from the Alton Regional into the sectional.
“Getting good pitching, timely hitting and good defense have done pretty well in the past for the winning team. Fortunately, we were on that side today,” Funkhouser said. “I really like the way our guys compete and cherish the opportunity to play at Edwardsville.
“Coach (Mike) Waldo always said to not take winning a regional for granted and we aren’t going to. These are special.”
“We were able to capitalize on the walks and score,” Kitchen said.
Edwardsville opened up a 1-0 lead in the second when Joe Toscano scored on a wild pitch. He walked with one out, moved to second on a walk to Kitchen and to third on a wild pitch.
EHS loaded the bases on three straight walks — two from Alton starter Riley Phillips and one from reliever Michael Reeder — to start the inning. He nearly worked his way out of the jam, getting a force out at home and a fly out to shallow center.
Toscano, facing a 1-2 count, hit a two-run single to extend the lead to 3-0.
Kitchen followed with a long two-run double into left field, making it 5-0.
“We were able to survive through the first two innings, but then they were able to get the two big hits with the bases loaded. It makes it a challenge,” Harper said. “We gave up a base hit off the end of the bat and then Kitchen, their MVP, ripped the ball over our left fielder’s head.”
Getting the start in place of Dalton Wallace, who was ejected in Wednesday’s game against Quincy, Kitchen went 2 of 3 with two RBIs. He also had two hits in the win over Quincy.
Phillips didn’t allow a hit in his two innings of work, but he walked seven and allowed three runs. He struck out four. Reeder allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and a strikeout in three innings of relief.
The five runs were more than enough support for EHS starting pitcher Matthew Boyer, who allowed two hits and struck out six in five innings. He threw 71 pitches.
“All of my pitches were working. I was able to throw my secondary pitches whenever I needed to. I felt good all week leading into this start,” Boyer said.
EHS added two runs in the fourth, getting an RBI double by Max Ringering and a sacrifice fly from Josh Ohl, for the 7-0 lead.
After Alton scored on an infield RBI single by Robby Taul, Edwardsville got the run back on Ringering’s single to score Westcott for the 8-1 lead.
Edwardsville finished with seven hits, including two apiece from Joe Copeland, Ringering and Kitchen.
Westcott scored three runs and walked in all four of his plate appearances.
4A BASEBALL REGIONAL: Alton's Stilts fires one-hitter against East in semis - The Telegraph - 5/24/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
4A BASEBALL REGIONAL: Alton’s Stilts fires one-hitter against East in semis
Senior fires complete-gameone-hitter in regional semis
Louie Korac For The Telegraph
Updated
Photo:
Greg Shashack | The Telegraph
Alton pitcher Adam Stilts fired a complete-game, one-hit shutout against Belleville East in the Redbirds’ 3-0 semifinal victory Thursday in the Alton Class 3A Regional Tournament.
GODFREY — A pregame bullpen session was all Alton pitcher Adam Stilts needed to know he’d be locked in.
“When I was warming up in the bullpen, I knew that I was going to be good today,” Stilts said.
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And the senior right-hander was nearly perfect.
Stilts threw a complete-game one-hit shutout, doing so on 88 pitches, and Alton supplied Stilts with the one run he needed in the second inning before tacking on two more in the sixth of a 3-0 win against Belleville East on Thursday in the Alton Class 4A Regional at Alton High School.
Stilts, who somehow came in with a sub-.500 record (3-4) despite a sparkling 0.69 earned-run average, didn’t allow a Belleville East batter to reach third base. The Lancers, who closed their season at 18-18, had four base runners for the game, including a single, two hit batsmen and a walk.
Stilts, who struck out nine, recently had trouble locating a slider that’s an important pitch to his weaponry. He worked two innings of a 5-1 loss at Freeburg on Monday and allowed two hits, five runs (none earned).
“Recently I had trouble with my slider,” Stilts said. “Coming into the game, I had no idea how it was going to go and in the bullpen, I kind of found it, but then when I was on the mound and I got a hitter in there, it was back to normal.”
And that slider set up what was a near-perfect afternoon other than a leadoff single by Gage Cruz for the Lancers.
“I just knew that he was ready to compete for this,” Alton coach Scott Harper said of Stilts. “He didn’t have it. He was talking about it on Monday. We gave him a short start just to kind of refresh and get ready to go so he wasn’t waiting too long between starts. They hit a few balls and we didn’t play very good defense, so yeah, that’s one of the comments he said, he didn’t have his slider. He worked a little bit on the side beforehand this week and got himself ready to go today.”
It was supposed to be a matchup of aces, which included Lancers starter Evan Gray, who was equally as impressive in his four innings of work, but Gray had to leave the game in the bottom of the fourth inning after being hit on the left wrist/forearm, his non-pitching arm.
Gray allowed one unearned run on one hit himself, with two walks and five strikeouts before giving way to Gabe Tindall.
“He got hit on the wrist/forearm and it kind of swelled up and he couldn’t go back out there,” Lancers coach Ryan Wiggs said. “Pitched great. Four innings, pitched fine, really good. He’s been our best guy all year. Gabe’s been one of our top guys all year too and he did fine too. We played pretty good defense, but when you get one hit, you don’t win a lot of games.
“(Stilts) has got a sub-one ERA. He’s a top of the conference type of guy. We were not surprised to see him or that he pitched well. We just had to battle or grind out more at-bats. Some at-bats, he was kind of pitching backwards, throwing sliders in fastball counts and fastballs in off-speed counts. He’s got a good slider and he keeps the ball down in the zone. Not a whole lot of free base runners and they play good defense too. Got to cut down on the strikeouts and put the ball in play more.”
Stilts got all the run support he needed after he led off with a walk in the second, and then pinch-runner Nathan Lemons stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a two-out wild pitch.
East couldn’t mound any kind of threat offensively.
“Everything was working,” Stilts said. “Velocity was definitely there. My secondary pitches were there and my changeup was most definitely there.
“I definitely knew that it was going to be a battle coming into the game today and knew I had to at least keep one or two of them from scoring. … The first run was huge. It was big.”
Alton added insurance in the sixth when Robbie Taul reached on an infield single and scored on Riley Phillips’ RBI double to left-center. Phillips moved to third on the errant throw back into the infield and scored on Jackson Brooks’ sac fly to center for what amounted to an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
“It was nice to get some insurance,” Harper said. “I knew right from the get-go it was going to be a good pitcher’s battle. I hate that Evan got hit on the forearm like that where he couldn’t continue because he had a great outing against us at their place when we lost 2-1. I told them runs were going to be hard to come by and we were able to scratch that one out in the (second).”
Alton (14-18) will now host top-seeded Edwardsville (31-5) at 10 a.m. on Saturday with a chance to redeem themselves from a disappointing regular season. The Tigers have beaten Alton twice this year, 5-2 in Alton on April 22 and 6-5 at home on April 26.
”Definitely not the year we had in mind, but you try and get hot during the playoffs,” Stilts said. “We’re going to ride this win until Saturday.”
TUESDAY'S PREP BOYS ROUNDUP: Stilts strong, but Redbirds fall at West, 2-1 - The Telegraph - 5/15/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
TUESDAY’S PREP BOYS ROUNDUP: Stilts strong, but Redbirds fall at West, 2-1
Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com
Published
Photo:
Greg Shashack / The Telegraph
Alton senior Adam Stilts, shown pitching earlier this season at Alton High, took the tough-luck loss Tuesday against Belleville West in a Southwestern Conference baseball game in Belleville.
No baseball pitcher in the Southwestern Conference with more than 20 innings worked boasts an ERA lower than Alton’s Adam Stilts’ 0.73.
But another strong start from the Redbirds senior went unrewarded Tuesday.
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An infield error with two outs in the third inning gifted a tiebreaking run that Belleville West turned into a 2-1 victory over the Redbirds in a SWC matchup in Belleville. West is 23-5 and 8-3 in the league. Alton is 12-15 and 5-6 in the SWC.
Stilts saw his record dip to 3-3 with the loss. He got through six innings on 77 pitches, yielding two runs (one earned) on six hits, one walk and three strikeouts. West scored a run in the first inning on a double steal before Alton drew even with a run in the third. Riley Phillips, who had one of the Redbirds’ five singles, drove in Alton’s lone run off West ace Joey Kossina.
Kossina, who threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 win over Edwardsville on May 1, moved to 5-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.22. He struck out five Redbirds and walked none in a 96-pitch complete game.
TUESDAY'S PREP BOYS ROUNDUP: Stilts' three-hit shoutout carries Redbirds past Kahoks - The Telegraph - 5/8/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
TUESDAY’S PREP BOYS ROUNDUP: Stilts’ three-hit shutout carries Redbirds past Kahoks
Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com
Updated
Photo:
Greg Shashack / The Telegraph
Alton’s Adam Stilts, shown pitching earlier this season, threw a three-hit shutout to lead the Redbirds to a Southwestern Conference victory over the Kahoks on Tuesday in Collinsville.
Adam Stilts would have no part of allowing the Alton Redbirds’ four-game losing streak to grow to five.
The senior right-hander fired a three-hit shutout to lead the Redbirds’ to a 7-0 victory over the Collinsville Kahoks in a Southwestern Conference baseball game at Fletcher Field in Collinsville. Alton is 11-13 and 5-4 in the SWC. Collinsville is 12-12 and 3-7 in the league.
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Stilts was in command throughout, striking out a career-high 10 while walking no one in seven dominant innings. After a scoreless first, the Redbirds scored in each of the next five innings while finishing with 11 hits.
Robby Taul lashed out a pair of doubles and drove in two runs for Alton, which also got two hits apiece from Caden Akal and Owen Stendeback, and two RBIs from Stilts. Collinsville starter Ryker Cain took the loss, allowing five runs (two earned) on five hits in five innings.
Alton wins in 8, halts 8-game losing streak vs. O'Fallon - The Telegraph - 4/10/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
Alton wins in 8, halts 8-game losing streak vs. O’Fallon
Marquette rallies to beat CM in 10
Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com
Updated
Photo:
Greg Shashack / The Telegraph
Marquette Catholic’s Garrett Weiner (left) looks back to the Explorers dugout after hitting a double last week at Mascoutah. Weiner had two hits Tuesday to help Marquette rally for a 6-5 10-inning win over Civic Memorial in Alton.
It took 16 strikeouts in a two-hit complete-game from Bryan Hudson in April 2015 for the Alton Redbirds to beat the O’Fallon Panthers.
The Redbirds had not beaten the Panthers since that Hudson shutout at Moore Park in Alton.
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O’Fallon had won the last eight Southwestern Conference baseball matchups with Alton, but the Redbirds drew even on Riley Phillips’ sixth-inning home run and beat the Panthers 3-2 on Jackson Brooks’ RBI single in the eighth Tuesday at Alton High in Godfrey.
Alton is 6-7 and 3-0 in the SWC. O’Fallon is 8-5 and 1-2 in the league. With the SWC’s newly implemented format of weekly Tuesday-Thursday dates with the same team, the Redbirds and Panthers get an immediate rematch Wednesday in O’Fallon. That game was moved up a day to avoid rain forecast for Thursday.
Alton left-hander Michael Reeder threw five scoreless innings before O’Fallon took 2-1 lead on Wes Collins’ two-run homer in the sixth. The Redbirds answered in the bottom of the inning with Phillips’ leadoff homer to tie it.
Reeder left after six innings, allowing two runs on three hits, four walks and four strikeouts. Adam Stilts struck out three, hit one and walked no one in two hitless innings to earn the win in relief.
Alton went right to work in the eighth, with Dylan Lahue getting hit by a pitch and Phillips drawing a walk before Jackson drove a 2-0 pitch to right field to send home Lahue with the game winner and trigger a Redbirds’ walk-off celebration.
Phillips, who also doubled, combined with Brooks in the Nos. 3-4 slot in the order to account for five of the Redbirds’ six hits. Brooks had three hits and drove in two runs.
O’Fallon starter Ben Koenig departed after seven innings and Logan Lowery took the loss after not retiring a Redbird in the eighth.
SLUGFEST: Alton wins wild one from CM, 11-10 in eight - The Telegraph - 3/24/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
SLUGFEST: Alton wins wild one from CM, 11-10 in eight — 31 photos
The Telegraph
Updated
Photo:
Nathan Woodside | The Telegraph
IMAGE 1 OF 39
Civic Memorial’s Gavin Lyday (15) dives back into first base just under the tag of Alton High first baseman Riley Phillips (11) Saturday during the Redbirds’ see-saw 11-10 eight-inning victory over the
GODFREY — Alton and Civic Memorial put on a slugfest Saturday at Alton High. And it wasn’t settled until the Redbirds came up with a solo run in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure an 11-10 nonconference victory.
After a relatively calm first inning that saw each team score a run, things heated up in the second inning. CM scored three runs in the top of the inning, but the Redbirds rallied in the bottom of inning to score four times and go ahead 5-4.
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But there was more to come. Much more.
CM tied it 5-5 with a run in the top of the fourth. The Redbirds countered with three runs of their own the bottom of the inning to go ahead 8-5. Alton added a run in the fifth to make it 9-5
The craziness continued in the sixth inning. The Eagles came up with four runs to tie it 9-9.
But back came the Redbirds - again - with a single run in the bottom of the sixth to go ahead 10-9.
After the Eagles tied it at 10-10 in the top of the seventh, the Redbirds finally ended the marathon with a single run in the bottom of the eighth.
Alton’s Michael Reeder had three hits, including a double, scored three runs and had a pair of RBIs.
The Redbirds had four players with two hits each. Jackson brooks was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, Dylan Lahue went 2-for-5 with an RBI, Riley Phillips was 2-for-4 with a run scored and Robby Taul was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a pair of RBIs.
CM is 3-3 and Alton is 2-4.
PREP BASEBALL: Vanost sparkles in debut, hurls Jersey past Alton - The Telegraph - 3/19/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
PREP BASEBALL: Vanost sparkles in debut, hurls Jersey past Alton
Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com
Published
Photo:
Greg Shashack / The Telegraph
IMAGE 1 OF 9
Jersey’s Kyle Kahl (3) slides safely across the plate with Jersey’s second run and his greeted by Tucker Shalley after he scored Jersey’s first run in the seventh inning to break a 0-0 tie Monday
GODFREY – The Jersey Panthers attempted to suppress expectations for Jeremy Vanost’s first varsity pitching appearance.
It was a wasted effort.
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Vanost turned in six shutout innings and was rewarded with a win after the Panthers broke a scoreless tie in a long seventh inning to beat the Alton Redbirds 5-2 on Monday at Alton High.
“I was blown away,” said Jersey catcher John Collins, whose bases-loaded, two-run single with nobody out in the seventh gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead. “Jeremy Vanost, coach Perdun told him before the game, hey, just get two or three solid innings. That’s all we need and then we’ve got guys who can come in and back you up.”
Vanost needed no backup until the seventh. The junior right-hander shut down the Redbirds on two hits and no walks while striking out six on 80 pitches.
“He gave us six, almost perfect, innings,” Collins said. “It was amazing.”
It was a welcome boost for the 1-2 Panthers after opening their season with losses to Waterloo Gibault and Roxana on Saturday at Roxana Park. “Losing Saturday, that was a heartbreaker,” Collins said. “We shook that off and played well today.”
Alton, coming off a no-hit 2-0 win over Coal City on Saturday, drops to 1-3. Since a season-opening 13-0 defeat to Chatham Glenwood, the Redbirds have turned three winning pitching performances into losses.
Adam Stilts got the start against Jersey and worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing three hits, two walks and striking out five. John Durrwachter followed with 1 1/3 innings to preserve a 0-0 tie through six innings.
“So far,” Alton coach Scott Harper said. “we’re real pleased with our pitching.”
But with Alex Gates struggling with command, surrendering a single by Tucker Shalley on a 3-2 pitch, hitting a batter and walking another to load the bases with nobody out in the seventh, the Panthers struck with Collins delivering the key hit on the first pitch offered from Zack Knight, who relieved Gates.
“Getting it in play was the main goal,” Collins said. “Getting it where someone wasn’t was the hope. I wanted to get it in the air to the outfield, but I ended up hitting it on the ground through the middle and getting two RBIs. It felt good.”
The Panthers piled on with another walk and Garrett Carey’s two-run single to make the lead 4-0. A fifth run scored on Jacob Stocks’ single to right.
“I give our guys a lot of credit that they were on it from pitch 1,” Jersey coach Darren Perdun said. “And Jeremy Vanost did a great job coming out and throwing strikes. Man, he was on it today.”
Alton threatened in the seventh against Jersey reliever Garrett Carey with doubles from Dylan Lahue and Robby Taul. But even with the aid of a Jersey error and two walks, the rally ended with the bases loaded.
Ethan Snider had two hits and Carey matched Collins with two RBIs for the Panthers, who outhit the Redbirds 9-4. Alton has yet to score more than two runs in a game and has been shutout twice while hitting .157 as a team.
“It’s early,” Harper said. “The bats are cold, with the weather. Hopefully, they heat up as we go. … We’re having some pretty good at-bats. We’ve just got to find our way. … We’re just not getting that big hit. We did on Saturday. They’re going to come, we just have to keep working at it.”
SATURDAY'S PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Alton's Phillips, Taul combine to no-hit Coal City - The Telegraph - 3/17/2019
Updated on 06/10/2022
SATURDAY’S PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Alton’s Phillips, Taul combine to no-hit Coal City
Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com
Published
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.
Chatham Glenwood uses eight-run second inning to defeat Redbirds - Riverbender.com - 3/15/2019
EDWARDSVILLE – Chatham Glenwood scored eight times in the second inning and went on to a 13-0 win over Alton in four-and-a-half innings, due to the 10-run rule, in the season opening Prep Baseball Report Metro-East Kickoff Classic game played Thursday night at SIU-Edwardsville’s Roy E. Lee Field at the Simmons Baseball Complex.
The Redbirds were held to two hits on a cold, blustery night. The eight-run second inning was the big key to the game.
“Yeah, and that can happen,” said first-year Alton head coach Scott Harper. “That’s baseball a little bit; I mean, conditions are brutal, but we’ve got to come out and play, and we just didn’t step up to the situation. We had a couple of miscues, they had a couple of balls that kind of found a way through us. Our pitchers need to work better commands so those free passes are going to help. We get out, it’s our first ball game, so we know results are now what we hoped for, but we turn around and we’re going to play tomorrow.”
Getting the first game in was important, as the Redbirds now know what they need to work on, and Harper feels things will come along as the season progresses.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Harper said. “We’re always working to try to get better. That’s just kind of the name of the game; it’s a long season, baseball is. It’s a grind, and so, you come out, you compete, you try to do the best you can. We didn’t do very well tonight, so we’re going to come out tomorrow and compete again.”
Harper feels that the Redbirds’ versatility and depth will be a big factor in their season.
“I’d like to say our versatility and our depth a little bit,” Harper said. “Our pitching staff will come along. We’ve got a lot of guys who’s come back, so just finding that groove; it’s always tough adjusting early to get good command and throw strikes. But we’ve got guys who can play some different positions. We’re still finding out the way with where we are, because we haven’t been out but twice to even be able to evaluate where we want to be and spots that we want to be in.”
Things started out good on the first batter of the game, as Robby Taul tripled over the center fielders head to the fence to start the game, and two outs later, Adam Stilts drew a walk. Stilts was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning. After the Titans went down in order in the first, Adam Holm reached on an error when a throw eluded the first baseman for an error and went to second on a base hit by Jake Jurgens. Jalen Ping reached on a fielder’s choice, with Jurgens safe at second on another error, and a walk to Matt Clevenger forced in the first run.
Jurgens scored on a passed ball, and a walk to Gavin Wahlbrink reloaded the bases, with Ping scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jake Curtis to right. Nolan Rooney then struck out, but four straight singles by Lucas Ryan, Luke Lehnen, who drove in two runs, Holm and Jurgens drove home a total of five more runs to make it 8-0 for Glenwood before Ping struck out to end the inning.
In the Titans third, Clevenger was hit by a pitch to start, Wahlbrink drew a walk and an infield single by Rooney loaded the bases again. Clevenger scored on a wild pitch, and a ground out Ryan drove home another run to make the score 10-0. In the fourth, Holm led off with a triple, came in to score on a Jurgens single, and a Ping single put runners on first and third. A walk to Wahlbrink loaded the bases again, and the final run came home on a fielder’s choice to make it 13-0.
The Redbirds came up with a fourth inning solid single to right by Tyler Steward, but it was the only other hit for Alton, as Titan pitching shut down the offense. Wahlbrink came up with four strikeouts on the night, Evan Rightnower fanned five in two innings of work and Rooney struck out one in the fifth in getting the win for the Titans.
Alton, starting their season at 0-1, will have two games tomorrow, against Lockport and Effingham, and Harper is very optimistic about the new season.
“Oh, absolutely,” Harper said. “You want to go into that, and you’ve got a good group of young men here that are working hard, and so, we definitely want to have high expectations for them. We expect a lot, but we’re just going to keep working at it.”
