GRANITE CITY – Alton American Legion Post 126’s junior baseball team exploded for 12 runs in the top of the fourth Wednesday evening as the junior Legionnaires took a 17-7, five-inning win over Granite City’s summer team at Babe Champion Field; Alton took its’ record to 4-3 on the summer with the win, coming off a Tuesday doubleheader split at home against Columbia.
“We came out swinging the bats,’ said Alton manager Dennis Sharp. “We were a little lethargic a couple of games ago; we hit the ball well last night to come back and beat Columbia; we were a little down for a couple of innings here – we weren’t sure if we were going to lay an egg, but a couple of guys ignited the ball and it became fun.
“We need some of these guys to start swinging the bat.”
Post 126 has had a busy start to the summer season, having played eight games in six days to get started. “We’ve been on and off,” Sharp said. “We’ve just now been getting our pitching established; we’ve had two or three games out of Owen (Dunham, who got the ball for Wednesday’s game). This was an older team (Granite’s summer team is playing in the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association as part of a Illinois summer league organized by Piasa Southwestern coach Brian Hanslow) and we did a good job keeping them at bay.
“(Owen) Stendeback’s done a good job for us, John Durrwachter had a good night for us last night against Columbia; really, what we’re trying to do the next week or two is get our pitching set up. We’re a work in progress.”
“Any loss is a tough loss, but we’re just trying to come out and get better,” said Granite City manager Scott Smallie. “We’ve got a mix of varsity and JV kids coming out and playing; we’ve got a lot of kids playing travel ball, so we’re just having some kids and giving them some opportunities to see what they can do; not a ton of coaching, just let them go out and play and see what they can do on their own.
“A lot of kids don’t play on other teams and they need somewhere to play above a recreation level; we’re trying to provide that for them. It’s a great opportunity for me to see some of these guys play some games; I don’t get to see them play all the time at the JV level or freshman level, so they get out in front of me and see what they can do and can’t do.”
Alton sent 16 batters to the plate in their 12-run fourth, putting together a streak of five hits in a row that scored seven of the 12 runs in the inning, with Dylan Lahue and Dunham each doubling in the inning. For the game, Caleb Noble was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two run scored, Lahue 1-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored, Preston Schepers 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Owen Macias 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, Stendeback 1-for-2 with an RBI and run scored, Caleb Calhoon 1-for-2 with two runs scored, Dunham 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Tyler Stewart 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Ian Barnard 1-for-1 with an RBI and two runs scored and Ben Bernaix 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Post 126 hosts Jerseyville at 6 tonight at Redbird Field on the Alton High School campus before playing in a tournament in Charleston beginning Friday and running through Sunday.
