Klosterman and Belleville Hilgards outduel Swansea-Fairview Heights

When it came to pounding the strike zone Tuesday night at Whitey Herzog Field, Belleville’s Matt Klosterman and Swansea-Fairview Heights’ right-hander Brady Schanuel were wielding sledgehammers.

Runs weren’t just scarce, they were nearly extinct as Belleville scratched across a run in the bottom of the sixth to escape with a 1-0 victory on a three-hit shutout by Klosterman.

The pitching was so good the game lasted only 85 minutes.

“Everything felt good. All my pitches were working,” said Klosterman, a right-hander headed to Southwestern Illinois College. “My defense was behind me. Our bats were slow at first, but they got going every now and then. I just tried to stay locked in the whole game ... Brady’s a fantastic pitcher and he always battles, but we came out and got the ‘W’ and did what we were supposed to do.”

Klosterman, a recent Belleville West graduate, allowed three hits and struck out seven while not issuing a walk as only one Giant got as far as second base. Schanuel, a Parkland College recruit from Belleville East, allowed five hits and struck out seven.

The game was eerily reminiscent of a 1-0 Belleville East win over Belleville West on April 21. Schanuel tossed a three-hit shutout in that one, and Klosterman allowed five hits as both pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts (10 each).

“Whenever you face somebody of Brady’s caliber, you know it’s going to be a tough night,” Belleville manager Zach Rakowski said. “He can really bear down when you put some pressure on him, but we always talk about ‘let’s just get as many opportunities we can and then hopefully something will give for us.’”

Belleville (23-6) improved to 5-1 in league play and is tied with the Metro-East Bears (17-5, 5-1) for first place in District 22. This is the final week for regular-season play as the Bears knocked off Highland 8-1 Tuesday. Swansea-Fairview (14-8-1) is 3-3 in league play with two games remaining against the Bears.

Belleville pushed across a run in the sixth to break up the scoreless tie when Luke Glaeser scored from third on a hard-hit ball by Casey Arnold that third baseman Chris Dye couldn’t handle.

Schanuel hit Glaeser with a pitch leading off the sixth and Austin Keen drew a walk.

After Stephen Toenjes bunted the runners to second and third, Swansea-Fairview starter Schanuel struck out Andrew Konya for the second out. After an intentional walk to leadoff man Sam Haudrich loaded the bases, Schanuel escaped further damage by retiring Spencer Piquard on a fly ball to left.

“They were both throwing strikes,” Swansea-Fairview Heights manager Craig Steiner said. “You’ve got to take your hat off to Klosterman, he threw a really good game. He hit his spots, kept our hitters off balance and you’re going to have to give him all the credit in the world.”

Steiner said Schanuel was pitching with a bit of a toe injury and later developed a blister.

“He got a blister on his finger in the last inning and I think that affected his control a little bit,” Steiner said. “I didn’t catch it that he had the blister on his hand and that was my fault for not catching it. I thought he threw a pretty darned good game.”

Schanuel seemed to toughen up each time the Hilgards put runners on base.

Glaeser walked and Keen collected the first of his two hits with one out in the second, but Schanuel struck out Arnold and Toenjes to end the threat.

Belleville’s Haudrich and Cal Kossina singled in the third to put runners at first and third with two outs, but Schanuel caught Luke Frazier looking for the strikeout.

The Hilgards also had two men on in the fifth and Schnauel retired Kossina and Frazier to quell the threat.

This story was originally published July 7, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Klosterman and Belleville Hilgards outduel Swansea-Fairview Heights."