Metro-East Bears move to 2-0 at Great Lakes Regional with emotional win

The Metro-East Bears are right where they want to be at the American Legion Baseball Great Lakes Regional.

They’re playing at home and moved to 2-0 in tourney play Thursday following a come-from-behind 7-5 victory over Beloit, Wis., at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Roy E. Lee Field.

Down 5-2, the Bears (19-6) sent nine men to the plate during a five-run seventh inning that proved to be the difference. The big blow was a two-run double by Roxana High graduate and Southwestern Illinois College recruit Chance Foss that broke a 5-5 tie.

The Post 199/126 Bears will face Rockford, Ind. (29-1) in a winner’s bracket game at 7 p.m. Friday.

“We’ve been there before,” Bears outfielder and John A. Logan College recruit Collin Clayton said when asked about the comeback. “Even throughout the regular season, throughout high school season, we’ve been there a lot. We’ve handled that before.”

Why are the Bears suddenly on fire following an 18-day layoff because of an early playoff exit in District 22 play?

“Just not making it to division and then state really got us,” Clayton said, “so we came up in here like all right, we’re going to try to win this thing. Give it all we’ve got.”

One player giving it all he’s got is Bears catcher Steven Pattan, who will be a senior at Alton High.

His infield single in the third was the Bears’ first hit and gave him five straight hits in the tournament. Pattan, who bats ninth, pushed his remarkable tourney streak to 8-for-8 with singles in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings.

“I’m just trying to put a nice short stroke on the ball, look for line drives,” Pattan said. “I’m not a power hitter. Every once in a while I’ll get into one, but put the barrel on the ball and good things will happen.

I’m just seeing the ball well right now. I feel confident in the nine-hole, I know what I can do.”

Clayton, Drake Hampton and Foss all drove in two runs for the Bears. Storm Coffman (4-0) shook off early jitters and pitched six innings to get the win, allowining nine hits and five runs. Devin Colley tossed three hitless innings to pick up a save.

Down 2-0, the Bears battled back with one run in the fourth and another in the fifth before scoring five in the seventh to grab a 7-5 lead. In the fifth, Clayton drilled a two-out, bases-loaded single to left to tie the game 2-2.

The Bears nearly got a lot more, but a sinking line drive shot to right by St. Louis University recruit Jake Garella was hauled in by diving Beloit right fielder Nate Loomis for the third out.

Beloit (30-8) broke the tie with three runs in the fifth. An RBI double by Andres Oselio followed singles by Loomis and Austin Grover. Drew Freitag’s RBI groundout and an RBI single by Jake McClellan pushed the Wisconsin team’s lead to 5-2.

The Bears didn’t waste any time on a comeback, scoring twice in the seventh to chase unbeaten Beloit starter Logan Johnson (10-0). Johnson allowed nine hits and five runs in 6 1/3 innings but didn’t figure in the decision.

A sacrifice fly by Clayton and Garella’s RBI double cut the Beloit lead to 5-4 as the Bears sent nine men to the plate in the seventh inning. Drake Hampton tied it with an RBI sgle before Roxana High product and Chance Foss stroked a two-run double to left to put his team on top 7-5.

Coffman seemed on his way to an easy first inning before Beloit rallied for two runs after two were out. Singles by Ethan Burns and Loomis were followed by a two-run triple to the gap in left center by Grover.

Coffman pitched the seventh inning in the Bears’ 13-1 victory over Pickerington, Ohio.

Metro-East got a run back in the fourth inning when Clayton led off the inning with a double and scored on an RBI groundout by Hampton. Hampton had three hits and six RBIs in the Bears’ tourney opener on Wednesday and has eight RBIs in two games.

“We just kept fighting,” Clayton said. “We got big at-bats and our pitching really helped us a lot. It’s good to be playing on our home field.”

Beloit faces Wisconsin rival Madison, which beat Beloit twice by 7-4 scores in the state tournament, at 4 p.m. Friday.

Rockport (Ind.) 6, Bay City (Mich.) 5

Rockport (29-1) took a 4-0 lead in the second inning and tacked on crucial runs in the eighth and ninth to edge Bay City 6-5. Bay City had two on and two out when the game ended on a close play at first base.

Kobe Stephens was 4-for-5 with an RBI for Rockport and Hunter Rowe had two RBIs. Austin Koin was 2-for-5 with three RBIs for Bay City (40-2).

Shelbyville (Ky.) 12, Pickerington (Ohio) 11

Pickerington led 4-0 in the fourth inning but couldn’t hold on as Shelbyville fought back with a five-run fifth and then broke an 11-11 tie with a run in the eighth. Mattt Gammon drove in three runs for Shelbyville while Will McDonald and Zane Baker had two RBIs each.

Connor Ayers was 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Pickerington, which bowed out of the tournament with a 41-13 record.

Madison (Wis.) 12, Danville 4

It was two and out for the Illinois state champs as Danville was eliminated with a 12-4 loss to Madison. Logan Michaels drove in four runs for Madison, including a three-run double in the seventh inning, while Bryce Hanson was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Metro-East Bears move to 2-0 at Great Lakes Regional with emotional win."