Metro-East Bears get another shot at American Legion Great Lakes Regional

After more than a two-week layoff between games, the Metro-East Bears would love to start the American Legion Baseball Great Lakes Regional at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville the same way they did last summer.

With a win.

“The first game in any tournament such as this is just crucial,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake, whose 17-6 club opens play in the double-elimination tournament at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Pickerington, Ohio Post 283 (41-11). “The more you can avoid losing, or losing your first game, it’s less games that you have to play later on at the back end - not to mention the confidence factor that the team gets.”

The Bears reached the regional championship game a year ago. Is this team capable of making a similar run?

“Talent-wise I think we’re there and we can compete player to player, but can the team get together with the conscience and the heart to do battle?” said Dennis Sharp, the Bears’ General Manager. “That’s probably the biggest thing I’m going to be looking for.”

Along with Schaake, who is managing in his fourth Great Lakes Regional, the Bears have added experience with players who returned from last season. Lewis and Clark Community College infielder Drake Hampton, Chance Foss, Jacob St. Peters, Maverick McSparin and Lincoln Land College recruit Mitchell Krebs all played in the regional last summer.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for everybody,” Schaake said. “It does help a little bit to be able to relate to the players the type of competition they’re going to face. If they play their type of game, they can compete with anybody. It’s just going to take them to come out and play that first game to realize what type of tournament it is.”

Pickerington knocked off defending Ohio state champ Toledo 6-5 in 12 innings to win the state title.

It was Pickerington’s first state title since 2012 and only the second in program history. Four players were on Pickerington North High’s state baseball championship team this spring.

The Metro-East Bears are hoping to rely on a deep pitching staff led by Brandon Hampton (6-1, 2.92 ERA), St. Louis University recruit and high school All-American Jake Garella (3-1, 1.1 ERA), Storm Coffman (3-0, 1.60 ERA), Devin Colley (2-1, 0.53 ERA, two saves) and Jacob St. Peters (1-1, 2.71 ERA).

Garella also is the team’s top hitter, carrying a .461 average that includes nine doubles, two triples and 18 RBIs.

“He’s definitely been one of the better players,” Schaake said of Garella, a first-team Belleville News-Democrat All-Area pick this season as a senior at Edwardsville. “He had one bad game as far as pitching, but we’ve been in every other game that he’s pitched. He’s a tremendous hitter and works very hard at all aspects of the game.”

Brandon Hampton will be a senior at Civic Memorial High.

“There’s been some things that we’ve tweaked with him a little on his mechanics and his approach to pitching,” Schaake said. “He’s really taken to heart whatever we’ve said and tried to implement it into his game.:

Other top hitters for the Bears include Cole Hansel (.440), third baseman Drake Hampton (.405, six doubles, two triples, one home run, 19 RBIs, 12 stolen bases), Quincy University recruit Cole Cimarolli (.352, 13 RBIs), McHenry County College recruit Tyler Stamer (.333, two homers, 14 RBIs) and John A. Logan College recruit Collin Clayton (.298, 17 RBIs).

Hansel, Cimarolli, Stamer and Clayton all played for Edwardsville.

Now in their third season, the Bears’ roster includes players from Bethalto (Hampton), Edwardsville, Alton, Roxana (Chance Foss), Bunker Hill (Storm Coffman) and Gillespie (Tate Wargo). The majority of the players attended Alton and Edwardsville High.

“Almost immediately this year, we had a couple practices and you couldn’t tell that they were from different schools,” Schaake said. “They all seemed to mesh right away.”

There were only three Legion teams in District 22 (basically the metro-east area) this season and Sharp said the Bears’ merger has gone well. He compared it to a similar merger during his playing days in the 1970s that saw Alton combine with Wood River, Roxana and Bethalto.

“That’s kind of what’s happened here and it gets you more depth,” Sharp said. “But if you’re going to play on a national stage, that’s really the kind of team you have to put together. Some of these teams are pulling from four high schools, so it does create a deeper team and you kind of need that.”

Among the teams competing at the Great Lakes Regional are Illinois state champion Danville (35-4-1), which has a 19-game winning streak and Shelbyville, Ky. (23-7). Rockport, Ind., (27-1) is back for a second straight season after winning back to back Indiana state titles.

Michigan has a strong entry in 38-1 Bay City and Wisconsin has two entries in back-to-back state champion Madison Post 501 (33-3) and second-place Beloit (28-7).

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Metro-East Bears get another shot at American Legion Great Lakes Regional."