ROXANA – The IHSA Class 2A baseball postseason brackets will be released on Wednesday, May 7.
And the sub-sectional the Roxana Shells find themselves in is a doozy.
The Shells will host a regional, as will conference rivals Breese Central in the Teutopolis Sub-Sectional B. Other teams in that pool are Marquette Catholic, Breese Mater Dei, Carlyle, Staunton, Columbia, and Althoff Catholic.
That’s why any game against one of those opponents is crucial. And there’s even more tension playing against a team whose season you ended a year ago.
That was the case on Wednesday when Roxana hosted the Althoff Crusaders in a pivotal non-conference game. The Shells scored first, outlasting a late comeback attempt, and won 4-3.
“For us, this is a postseason game,” Roxana head coach Jerry Wheaton said. “We beat these guys last year in the regional final, so we’ve got to play them. So, you can play them now, and figure out what you got, or you can wait, and it’ll be a surprise come postseason. That’s how it was last year. It was a surprise last year because we got rained out against these guys. I like to schedule our sub-sectional teams, because it gives us a little gauge on what we’ve got going forward.”
Last season, Roxana beat Althoff 4-0 in the Carlyle Regional before falling to St. Anthony in the Greenville Sectional semifinals. The Shells were the two seed.
This time around, they’re hoping for the top spot.
“I think I’ve said it a couple of times, we could be anywhere from a one-seed to a six-seed,” Wheaton said. “I mean, Althoff, Columbia, Marquette; you’re talking four or five teams that can go any direction in any seed. It is just an absolute dog fight.”
As it sits, the Shells are 5-2-1 against teams in their upcoming sub-sectional. A key game against Breese Central, not only for postseason seeding but also for Cahokia-Mississippi Conference standings, will be played on Thursday, April 24. Roxana also has a game against Marquette on Wednesday, April 30, that will affect the seedings.
But as for Wednesday, it was the Shells who got on the board early. After Dalton Carriker went three-up, three-down on the mound for Roxana, Caleb Wonders got things going with a one-out single. Kael Hester doubled to send Wonders around to third, and then Mason Crump brought him home thanks to a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
“We manufactured that run with a sac fly. We got him on, got him over, and got him in. That’s the kind of baseball we like to play right now,” Wheaton said.
After striking out back-to-back batters to start the second inning, Carriker then gave up two straight hits and a walk to load the bases. He got Zach Winkeler to fly out to get out of trouble.
Sam Roche picked up a couple of strikeouts in the bottom half of the third on the mound for Althoff. He went on to throw the entire game, giving up three earned runs on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
After striking out his first batter, Carriker was pulled due to some “nagging shoulder pain,” as Wheaton put it, and that it was “nothing serious” to worry about.
That brought in Hester from the outfield to take over pitching duties. He immediately walked Matt Hesse. Hesse quickly stole second and then was given a free base to third after Hester baulked. That made things easier for Tyler Pollock, who hit an RBI single to score Hesse and tie the game at 1-1.
The Shells took the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth. Nick Miles singled, and so did Lucas Hartman to send Miles to second. Caiden Davis then doubled, scoring Miles. Wonders laid down a bunt that moved the runners and scored Hartman. Hester then grounded out to score Davis and make it a 4-1 ballgame.
Althoff cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth. Winkeler hit a one-out single and stole second. Ben Vosse grounded out to put Winkeler on third, and then Winkeler scored when Hester baulked again to make it 4-2.
The Crusaders tried to mount a seventh-inning comeback, and nearly did so, but Hester worked his way out of the jam.
Winkeler drew a lead-off walk and was moved to second after a third baulk from Hester. Hester struck out Vosse before hitting Evan Hoffman with a pitch. Bo Gomric then doubled, putting Hoffman on third and scoring Winkeler. Hester then walked Cooper Zimmer to load the bases with one out.
Fortunately for him, he was able to pop Hesse out before ending the game by striking out Jason Dowell.
“He has had two really rough outings,” Wheaton said of his closer. “The last time he pitched was the tie game against Staunton.”
That game back on March 25 was a 7-7 tie after nine innings of play.
“He’s been itching to pitch, and he’s a competitor,” Wheaton said of Hester. “We had full trust in him. He put himself in a tough situation there with a walk and a hit by pitch, but he got himself out of it. He put himself in it, he got himself out of it, and that’s what we expect from one of our seniors.”
The win propelled the Shells to 14-5-1 on the season. Five of those wins have been by just one run.
“Competition, that’s what we schedule these games for,” Wheaton said. “That’s what our kids want. I don’t want blowouts; those don’t make you better. These games are going to make us better in the long run.”
After the game against Breese Central, the Shells are set for a three-game week to close out April and open May. They’ll play a home and away against Salem with that game against Marquette wedged right between.
Roxana has 12 regular-season games remaining, and five of them are against conference opponents. Breese Central currently leads the conference at 4-1. Roxana and Freeburg are both 3-2.
“I think six or seven wins is going to win the conference,” Wheaton said. “It’s just absolutely insane.”
