FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS – The Alton Post 126 American Legion baseball team won twice on Saturday, taking a 5-1 win over Jackson, Mo. Post 158 as Adam Stilts had a magnificent 13-strikeout performance, then defeated McLeansboro Post 10-0 behind a nine-strikeout performance from Jacob Weidner and a eight-run sixth to win Group A of the Metro-East Firecracker tournament Saturday at Moody Park in Fairview Heights.
The two wins gave the Legionnaires a sweep of Group A with three straight wins, and brought their current winning streak to eight consecutive.
In the opener Saturday morning against Jackson, the two teams traded runs in the third. Jackson scored first in the top of the frame, A one-out double by Seth Essner put Jackson in business, and one out later, an RBI single by Tyler Martin scored Essner with the first run of the game. Alton got the run back in the home half, starting with back-to-back one-out singles from Jayce Maag and Gage Booten, Maag going to third on the Booten hit. Cullen McBride’s sacrifice fly to center scored Maag and advanced Booten to second before Ethan Kopsie drew a walk, but a ground out ended the inning, leaving the score tied 1-1.
Alton took the lead for good in the fourth, starting with a lead-off walk to Stilts. Courtesy runner Kenny Beachum was sacrificed to second by Owen Stendebach, then Preston Schepers was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Owen Macias sacrificed both runners to second and third, then Maag drew a walk to load the bases. Booten then singled home both Beachum and Schepers, and a McBride RBI single scored Maag to make it 4-1 before a line out to left ended the inning.
The Legionnaires scored their last run in the fifth, all happening with two out. Stendebach and Schepers singled, and Macias was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Maag singled home Stendebach with the run that made it 5-1. Stilts retired the side in the sixth and seventh to preserve the complete game win for Alton.
In the second game against McLeansboro, the Legionnaires struck in the third with a single run, starting with Schepers being hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, then being sacrificed to second by Stendebach. One out later, Maag tripled to the deepest part of the park in center, scoring Schepers to make it 1-0.
Alton made it 2-0 in the fourth, and again, timely two-out hitting produced the run. Ryan Best drew a walk, and Stilts singled to right to start the rally. Schepers reached on an error to score Best before a strikeout ended the inning.
The Legionnaires then exploded for eight runs in the sixth to put the game away. The inning started with a lead-off walk to Stilts, and back-to-back singles by Schepers and Stendebach loaded the bases. A Macias single scored Stilts to make it 3-0, Maag drew a walk to force in another run, and Stendebach scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. McBride doubled home two more runs to extend the lead to 7-0, and after an Ethan Kopsie single and a walk to Best to load the bases, a passed ball scored McBride, and a balk brought home Kopsie to make it 10-0. Schepers single to right, but a fly out ended the inning. Weidner then retired the side in the sixth as the game was called, due to the 10-run rule.
Alton is now 14-5 on the season with their eight-game winning streak, and advances to Sunday’s semifinals, playing against Group B winner Jefferson City, Mo. Post 5 in a game that starts at 10 a.m. A win puts Post 126 in the final against the winner of Festus, Mo., who won Group C, and Jackson, the Wild Card, in the final at 3 p.m., with all games played at Whitey Herzog Field in Belleville.
Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
