Herbert dodges trouble for 11 innings, Blaylock doubles in 12th to give Fairview-Swansea playoff win

At some point, Fairview-Swansea American Legion baseball manager Craig Steiner had to wonder how long starting pitcher Tyler Herbert could keep pitching around trouble.

The answer is 11 innings — at least.

If not for Domonic Blaylock's two-run, 12th-inning double to give Fairivew a 4-2 District 22 playoff win, Herbert might still be leaving would-be Belleville runs stranded on base.

A middle reliever primarily at Southwestern Illinois College last spring, Herbert threw 151 pitches, allowing at least one runner to reach in nine of his 11 innings.

"I never let a kid go that far into a game, but I couldn't take him out," Steiner said. "He knew if we didn't win it would have been the last game he'd ever throw for us. I couldn't do it."

Herbert, a 2014 graduate of O'Fallon High School and the District 22 Player of the Year last season, said he was running on adrenaline in the 11th, when he escaped a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout of Belleville outfielder Casey Arnold.

Herbert also escaped Belleville threats in the second and third with double plays, in the sixth when the inning's final out was retired on a play at the plate, and with strikeouts in the eighth, ninth and 11th.

Belleville had 10 hits in the game and got four more runners on Fairview-Swansea errors. Neither of the Hilgard’s runs were earned, however. Herbert struck out seven, walked three and hit one batter.

"I didn't want to come out," said Herbert, who improved to 4-1. "I told the guys I'd put them on my back if they found a way to score."

Blaylock said he had a pretty good idea how that run would score when he came to the plate in the 12th with score knotted at two runs apiece.

Chris Dye reached on a third-strike wild pitch to start the two-out rally, then Nick Crabtree singled. Both runners advanced into scoring position on another wild pitch by Althoff's Austin Keen, prompting Belleville manager Zach Rakowski to turn to Spencer Piquard.

"That's a tough position to come into and I was feeling pretty good when they made the change," Blaylock said. "I was trying just to get on base or put the ball in play. I wasn't trying to be a hero."

Blaylock pulled an outside pitch down the third base line to drive home both Dye and Crabtree with the winning runs. It also drew protests from the Belleville bench, which argued the ball skirted wide of third base in foul territory.

"He hit the ball the best of anybody tonight and for the last two weeks has really been zeroed in," Steiner said of Blaylock. "He's the guy we wanted up in that situation."

Fairview-Swansea (17-10) advances in the double-elmination touranment against the top-seeded Metro-East Bears at Gordon Moore Park in Alton Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Second-seeded Belleville (23-8) faces a must win against Highland at Whitey Herzog Field, also Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Belleville starter Matt Klosterman also pitched nine strong innings, allowing just one earned run on four scattered hits. Piquard, Belleville's third pitcher of the game, took the loss.

The Hilgards had 11 hits

"Matt pitched into some tough luck during the high school season and lost some one-run games," Rakowski said. "It happened again here tonight where he pitched really well in a loss, but he's beaten this team twice before during the season.

"We had our opportunities tonight and just didn't make them count. Overall, I thought we did OK. We just have to refocus and come back strong tomorrow."

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Herbert dodges trouble for 11 innings, Blaylock doubles in 12th to give Fairview-Swansea playoff win."