Freeburg hoping to find playoff magic in 3A; Carlyle Indians on fire during 8-0 start

Since finishing third at the 2014 Class 2A state baseball tournament, the Freeburg Midgets have been undergoing a mostly successful transition to the 3A level.

The Midgets, off to a 5-1 start this season, are coming off a a 27-6 season that saw them lose to Waterloo in the regional championship.

“We’re caught in the middle,” said Freeburg coach Drew Gericke, whose team competes in the mostly 2A (except Columbia) Cahokia Conference-Mississippi Division but also plays several 3A and 4A teams. “We’ve been small for so long and our enrollment tells us we’re right there in the middle; we average around 600 kids.

“The quality of 3A teams in this area is outstanding. You look at our regional and our sectional last year and Highland won the state tournament. We’re ready to go in 3A, there’s really no excuses any more for our kids. We’re ready to compete.”

Freeburg’s quick start includes wins over defending 3A state champ Highland and 4A Granite City. The Midgets have a deep and potential potent lineup led by Southwestern Illinois College recruit Keegan Baxmeyer and Lindenwood-Belleville recruit Ty Dill.

A knee injury cost Baxmeyer his senior football season last fall, but he’s ready to take out that frustration on area pitchers after crushing the ball as a first-team All-Area junior. He’s currently at .412 with a home run and seven RBIs.

Baxmeyer hit .480 last spring with 10 doubles, six home runs and 27 RBIs as the Midgets’ catcher. He also had a .557 on-base percentage and has started his senior year as a designated hitter in deference to the knee injury.

“He got fully cleared two days before our first game,” Gericke said. “He’s not 100 percent, but he is cleared to do all baseball activities. You can’t take that bat out of the lineup, but he’s not going to be in that catching role until about midseason or so. We’re not going to push him because he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

Gericke said he could also be used at first base or in the outfield, but Baxmeyer has been cleared to his since January and is bigger and stronger thanks to offseason weight training.

“I believe he’s become a better hitter because he’s hitting it to all fields early on better than last year,” Gericke said. “The ball just jumps off his bat in batting practice to all fields.”

Dill has blazed his way to a .588 start that includes three doubles and seven RBIs along with nine runs scored.

“He’s just one of those scrappy hitters at the plate,” Gericke said of Dill, who hit .438 with 22 RBIs as a junior. “He does everything to put the ball in play and when you do that, your average go es up. He just knows the game, his baseball knowledge is very high.”

Catcher Jordan Fritz (.444, two doubles, six RBIs), second baseman Landon Touchette (.500, five RBIs) and Joe Wolf (.400, two RBIs) are also off to strong starts at the plate.

Wolf also tossed a five-inning no-hitter last week in a 12-1 win over Murphysboro, striking out two and walking three.

“He’s come a long way with the bat,” Gericke said. “I know some of the numbers are high, but we’ve still got some work to do in the middle of the order.”

Wolf has also emerged as a force on the mound, going 2-0 while allowing one hit and no earned runs in his first 11 innings. Elias Czech (1-0) has a 0.62 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings while pitching against Highland and Nashville. Fritz (1-0) allowed no earned runs in his first 8 2/3 innings.

Senior Brennan Dermody will help as an outfielder, DH and pitcher once he returns from a hip injury.

Gericke said the Midgets look forward to another intense year in the Cahokia Conference.

“I’ve been head coach for six years and there’s no down year in the Cahokia Conference,” he said.

Carlyle Indians rolling

No metro-east team can stake a claim to being any hotter than the Carlyle Indians, who won their first eight games with a highly effective mix of hitting, pitching and defense.

“For early in the year we’re playing pretty good baseball,” said Carlyle coach Dusty Barr, who relies on eight seniors and some talented underclassmen. “We’re not making a lot of errors or many mental mistakes. We’re playing pretty good in all facets of the game.

“The nice thing is we’ve won a couple different ways. We’ve blown some people out, we came from behind on Saturday for the first time and we’ve won a couple close ones, too.”

Senior leadoff hitter Adam Alexander is the offensive ignition switch for the Indians.

“He’s on base about every other at-bat,” Barr said of Alexander, a SWIC recruit hitting .407 with 11 runs scored and St. Louis area-leading 12 stolen bases. “His speed is the big thing, speed never slumps. He’s a game-changer because when he gets on he puts so much pressure on the defense. He just totally changes the game for us.”

On Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader sweep over Trico, Alexander drew a walk and then stole second and stole third before scoring on a wild pitch.

“He scored on a wild pitch where the ball got about five feet away from the catcher,” Barr said of Alexander, who hit .333 as a junior with five doubles, four triples, two home runs, 18 RBIs and 28 stolen bases.

The top of the lineup is capable of producing runs in bunches with Ryan Rakers (.407, three doubles, one homer, seven RBIs) Reid Smith (.286, four RBIs), Grant Carman (.280, one homer, five RBIs) and junior infielder and cleanup hitter Dru Johnson (.423, four doubles, six RBIs).

Also off to a hot start is sophomore DH Conner Humes. He’s hitting .500 (9-for-18) with two RBIs after entering the season primarily thought of as a left-handed pitcher.

“He’s just kind of taken off,” Barr said of Humes, who went 4-for-4 against Flora in his first start. “He didn’t start, but we put him out there and let him go and we’ve seen the results.”

Rakers (2-0, 1.40 ERA, 12 strikeouts in 10 innings) is the ace of the staff and already has a one-hitter against Lebanon. Senior Maverick Taylor (2-0, 1.62 ERA) and Landon Michael (2-0, 0.68) are in the rotation along with Ricky Huge (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

Collin Szczeblewski is the closer.

Carlyle is one of several contenders for the Cahokia Conference title this spring along with Freeburg, Central, Wesclin and Columbia.

“It’s only going to get tougher,” Barr said. “I constantly remind them that Freeburg just beat Highland. This is about the third or fourth year in a row where seven wins might win the conference. Somebody tends to always step it up in conference, but I think this is a year where six or seven wins might do it because there’s so much depth in the conference.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Freeburg hoping to find playoff magic in 3A; Carlyle Indians on fire during 8-0 start."