Columbia edges Freeburg in battle of Cahokia Conference baseball powers
In an inning where the Freeburg Midgets kept asking for trouble on Tuesday, they finally found it.
A two-out, bases-loaded infield single by Chris Wagner drove in Cameron Touchette with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh as the Columbia Eagles defeated Freeburg 3-2 in a Cahokia Conference baseball game.
“Somebody was going to have to step up on one of the teams and get a big hit with a runner in scoring position,” Freeburg coach Drew Gericke said after his 11-3 team dropped to 2-1 in league play. “They were able to do that at the end.”
The win pushed Columbia (8-4) to 2-0 in league play with wins over Freeburg and Carlyle.
Key sequence
Columbia senior Cameron Touchette ignited the seventh-inning rally with his fourth hit of the day, then took second when the ball was bobbled by the left fielder. Touchette went 4-for-4 with a double and is hitting an other-worldly .760 (19-for-25) through seven games with five doubles, 14 RBIs .
Somebody was going to have to step up on one of the teams and get a big hit with a runner in scoring position. They were able to do that at the end.
Freeburg coach Drew Gericke
With Touchette at second with one out, Gericke ordered an intentional walk to Cameron Roth. Lamont Read by grounding the ball right back to reliever Brennan Dermody, but Dermody passed up a chance to get a potential double play and threw to first for the second out.
After Dermody walked Jonathan Holmes to load the bases, Gericke summoned outfielder Will Hogan to pitch. Wagner followed with a hard shot off shortstop Ty Dill, beating the throw to first as Touchette crossed the plate with the winning run.
“With our offense we’ve got to do a good job of putting pressure on the defense,” Columbia coach Neal O’Donnell said. “That’s a classic example of what we need to do to be successful. I told our guys we just needed to continue to have good at-bats and we did a prety good job of that the entire game.
“We were kind of lucky to have the last at-bat tonight.”
Gericke would have liked a little better execution to help the Midgets reach extra innings.
With a lot of high school hitters they give at-bats away, they carry mistakes from the plate to the field or mistakes at the field to the plate. He doesn’t do that. He’s a great hitter.
Columbia coach Neal O’Donnell on Cameron Touchette
“Maybe if (Ty) fields it cleanly we get a forceout somewhere, but that ball was hit hard and it was a tough play,” said Gericke, who also was asked about the potential double-play ball. “We just went over that after we put the guy on first, but it happens. They’re teenagers ... he’ll learn from it and we’ll move on.”
Key players
Freeburg starter Joe Wolf and Columbia starter Andrew Hoguet both pitched well enough to win, but neither figured in the decision.
Hoguet gave up four straight hits and two runs in the first, then tossed five shutout innings before being relieved by Luke Watson in the seventh.
“Andrew did an excellent job today,” O’Donnell said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled and Luke came in and did an excellent job as well.”
Wolf allowed an unearned run in the first, allowing one more run in the fourth when Lamont Read singled in the fourth and scored the tying run on a two-out RBI single by Ryan Gudeman.
Freeburg got two runs in the first on RBI singles by Keegan Baxmeyer and Jordan Fritz. Touchette doubled and scored in the first on a Freeburg throwing error.
Has O’Donnell ever seen a hitter as hot as Touchette and his nuclear bat?
“Simply put, no, I have not,” he said. “With a lot of high school hitters they give at-bats away, they carry mistakes from the plate to the field or mistakes at the field to the plate. He doesn’t do that.
“He’s a great hitter.”
Norm Sanders: 618-239-2454, @NormSanders
This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Columbia edges Freeburg in battle of Cahokia Conference baseball powers."