Post 439 wins last three regular-season games

The Highland American Legion Post 439 Senior baseball team won its final three regular-season games last week to gain some momentum prior to this week’s District 22 Playoff Tournament.

But first on Tuesday of last week, Highland was roughed up by the visiting Metro East Bears by the final score of 8-1.

Post 439 wasted little time bouncing back. Two nights later on Thursday, Highland easily swept a doubleheader from visiting East St. Louis after taking the twin bill by the lopsided scores of 12-1 and 13-0.

Finally on Saturday at Glik Park, Highland did not let being the road team on the scoreboard in its own ballpark deter them, as Post 439 doubled up the Belleville Post 58 Hilgards 6-3 to earn a season split and make it three wins in a row to wrap up the regular season.

“We have beaten Fairview Heights and now we beat Belleville so maybe we are starting to peak going into the playoffs next week,” Highland manager Harry Painter said after Saturday’s win over Belleville.

Post 439 evened up its overall record at 5-5 and also finished with a .500 mark in District 22 play at 4-4, which tied the Swansea-Fairview Heights Giants for third place in the five-team league. Both teams matched one another on four tie-breaking criteria — head-to-head matchup, run differential in head-to-head matchup, runs allowed and runs for. But the Giants won the coin flip so they were awarded third place and Highland had to settle for the fourth seed for this week’s District 22 Playoff Tournament.

The Bears (18-6, 6-2) finished tied with Belleville (23-7, 6-2) atop the District 22 standings. Each team split their season series but Metro East won the tie-breaker based on run differential in the head-to-head matchup. The Bears won 6-1 while Belleville won 3-2. So, Metro East repeated as champions of the district.

No. 4 Post 439 opens the postseason at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Alton’s Hopkins Field inside Gordon Moore Park against the top-seeded Metro East Bears, who swept the season series from Highland by scores of 2-0 and 8-1.

As long as the Bears are playing in the double-elimination, nine-inning, wood-bat American Legion tournament, they will play at the comforts of home.

In the other District 22 semifinal, second-seeded Belleville Post 58 hosts third-seeded Swansea-Fairview Heights at Whitey Herzog Field in Belleville.

The eventual winner of the District 22 tourney will advance to next week’s Fifth Division Tournament in Carmi, Ill. It begins on Monday.

The Fifth Divison winner will move on to the American Legion State Tournament, which will be held July 28 through Aug. 1 in Wheaton, Ill.

Highland (Post 439) 6, Belleville (Post 58) Hilgards 3

Post 439 had much more success this time around against Belleville starter Josh Davinroy.

On June 26, Davinroy went the distance and shut down Highland in a 6-1 Belleville victory.

But it was a much different story on Saturday as Post 439 tagged the Post 58 right-hander for four earned runs and knocked him out of the game after only 3 1/3 innings.

Highland also struck for a pair of key insurance runs in the sixth off Hilgard reliever Luke Vallandingham.

Leading Highland on offense with two hits apiece were Matt Augustin (two runs, one RBI) and Andrew Winning (one double, one run).

Contributing one hit each for Post 439 were Will Greenwald (two RBIs, one stolen base), Griffin Welz (double, one RBI, one walk, one run), Jimmie Smith (one RBI, one stolen base, one run), Cody Bentlage (one RBI) and Jordan Smith (one run).

“We had two innings (fourth and sixth frames) tonight where we had three and four hits in an inning and that’s been rare for us,” Painter said. “That’s big for us to do because these guys will score runs if they put hits together. So from an offensive standpoint, I felt a little bit better tonight. We were hitting against some good pitchers and we put some key hits together and made some good contact.”

And Highland’s defense was also stout. Post 439 played an error-free game behind a strong extended relief outing from Sam Greene, who fired 4 1/3 scoreless innings to permit Post 439 to overcome a 3-1 deficit and score the come-from-behind win. The Highland right-hander allowed only one hit and two walks while punching out four.

“We played good defensively and made all the plays we needed to make,” Painter said. “Sam Greene comes in down 3-1 and holds them down for us, allowing us to come back. Sam threw 4 1/3 innings and only threw 54 pitches, so you can’t ask for anymore than that. He did an outstanding job tonight. Sam kept us in this game. It was a nice all-around win for us.”

The right-handed Greene was summoned to the mound with two outs in the third to relieve lefty starter Brandon Camp, who opened the game with two scoreless innings.

But after Highland grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on Greenwald’s RBI single to left-center field scored Jimmie Smith (walk, stole second base), Camp lost his control in the bottom half and not only coughed up the lead, but a total of three runs (all earned) while only recording one out.

Cal Kossina and Matt Klosterman led Belleville with two hits and one RBI each. Kossina also scored a run, as did Andrew Konya (one hit, one walk) and Vallandingham (one walk).

Camp’s struggles in the third forced Post 439 to have to mount a comeback. Highland was more than up to the task, rallying for a three-run top of the fourth to take the lead for good before tacking on the two insurance tallies in the sixth.

In the fourth, Winning and Jordan Smith led off with back-to-back singles. After Blaine Ray sacrificed them up a base, Augustin drove home Winning with a run-scoring single. Then after Welz walked, Jimmie Smith plated Jordan Smith with an RBI single, and Greenwald knocked in Augustin with a ground out to put Highland on top 4-3 for the game’s final lead change.

In the sixth, Augustin hit a leadoff single. Next, Welz smashed a double to the gap in left-center and went to third on the throw home. Then with two outs, Bentlage smacked an RBI single to bring Welz to home plate with the game’s final run.

Highland (Post 439) 13, East St. Louis 0 (5 innings)

Post 439 hammered out 14 hits and put up four crooked-number innings — three runs in the first, three in the second, two in the third and five in the fifth — to bring the game to a halt two innings early.

Three different Highland players achieved multiple-hit games. Showing the way was Greenwald, who was the table setter after going 4-for-5 with one double, four stolen bases and four runs scored.

Brendan Stanfield went 3-for-4 with one triple, one double, three runs batted in, two stolen bases and two runs scored.

Ray was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs.

Chipping in one hit apiece on offense, were Bentlage (four RBIs, two stolen bases and two runs), Welz (one stolen base, one run), Seth Luitjohan (one RBI), Tyler Pollard (one run) and Zach Chapman.

Chris Dickman threw a complete-game shutout, yielding just one hit and no walks while punching out 10 over five innings.

Highland (Post 439) 12, East St. Louis 1 (5 innings)

Post 439 only had three hits, but Highland took advantage of numerous walks and wild pitches to score three runs in the first, one in the second and four in each of the third and fourth innings. The game was stopped due to the 10-run mercy rule without Highland even having to bat in the bottom of the fifth.

This time it ws Chapman who tossed a five-inning complete game. The lefty surrendered just one earned run on two hits and two walks. He struck out 10.

Getting one hit each for Highland were Welz (hit by pitch, three stolen bases, two runs, one RBI), Stanfield (double, stolen base, two runs) and Ray (hit by pitch, one stolen base, one run).

Also for Post 439, Greenwald recorded two walks, two RBIs, two stolen bases and two runs scored; Luitjohan added three walks, six stolen bases and scored three runs; Jimmie Smith was hit by a pitch, stole two bases and knocked in one run; and Augustin had one RBI and one run scored.

Metro East Bears 8, Highland (Post 439) 1

The Metro East Bears were more dominant in the second meeting between the two combatants en route to pulling off the season sweep of Post 439. In the first game back on June 24, the Bears won 2-0 in a game that featured very little offense as both teams mustered just two hits apiece.

Metro East’s two hits in the earlier game both came from Maverick McSparin. This time around, the Bears’ offense was more productive and that led to more runs crossing home plate.

Additonally, Highland was in more of a giving mood with four errors on defense.

It was a quick start for the the Bears as they pushed across three runs in the first inning to quickly grab a lead they would never relinquish. Drake Hampton, Jordan Hovey and McSparin all scored in the first frame.

Hampton and Hovey both came home when Aaron Jackson, Metro East’s cleanup hitter, hit a single that just nicked the first baseman’s glove. The play on Hovey was close but he was ruled safe.

McSparin moved up a base on the hit. Two batters later, Caleb Buhs hit a line drive single to chase McSparin home and stake the Bears to the three-run advantage.

Highland got one run back in the bottom half of the first when Ray hit a single, moved over to third base on a base hit from Augustin and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Welz.

The Bears answered back with a run in the third before busting the game wide open with another three-run frame in the sixth and then closing with a single tally in the seventh to cap the scoring.

In the third, Jackson drewa walk, stole both second and third bases before coming home on an errant throw by Highland starting pitcher Jordan Smith.

The Bears were aggressive on the bases all night, moving up a base eight different times either by stealing or advancing.

After not scoring in the middle innings, Metro East scored four more runs combined in the sixth and seventh innings to expand the score to the eventual final.

Hovey, who was selected to the first-team Louisville Slugger All-American baseball team and committed to Missouri State University in the span of a few days two weeks ago, again scored in the team’s three-run sixth when the Bears sent all nine players to the plate in the frame. Anthony Kindle scored after hitting a single and Jacob Skarbacz scored after reaching base on an error.

In the seventh, Connor Melton reached base on an error, moved up to second on a wild pitch and eventually scored on another error made by Highland.

With eight runs on the board, the pitching didn’t need to be great, but the Bears got a quality game from their starter. McSparin took the mound for his team and pitched a complete game. In his seven innings of work, he allowed just the one earned run, five hits and one walk while whiffing four.

Both teams mustered just five hits aside, with Ray leading the way for Highland with a pair of hits. Welz, Jimmie Smith and Augustin each had one hit for Post 439.

Jordan Smith suffered the loss for Highland after giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks in three innings of work. He struck out six.

Matt Beyer relieved Jordan Smith to open the fourth. Beyer ended up being touched for three earned runs on three bases on balls, two hits and two hit batsmen in 2 2/3 innings. Beyer fanned three.

Ray worked the final 1 1/3 innings for Highland, yielding on unearned run and three walks while whiffing one

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 4:05 AM with the headline "Post 439 wins last three regular-season games."