Metro-East Bears can’t hang on at Legion tourney, fall to Indiana state champs

In a game that both teams tried to win and give away at various times, it was Indiana state champion Rockport that finally emerged on top.

Rockport moved to the championship game by erasing an early 4-1 deficit and outlasting the host Metro-East Bears 12-9 on Friday at the American Legion Baseball Great Lakes Regional.

The teams, who each had won their first two tourney games, combined to leave 28 runners on base, including 17 by Rockport, and also combined for 16 walks. The Bears (19-7) hurt themselves with six errors and after working hard to cut the Rockport lead to 9-8 in the eighth, issued three straight bases-loaded walks in the ninth to put things out of reach.

Rockport (30-1), which has won 30 in a row, advanced to the 4 p.m. game Saturday against fellow 3-0 tourney team Madison (Wis.). The Bears (19-7) will face Bay City (Mich.) in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“We score nine and we’re still down by three, it’s never good,” said Bears starting pitcher Drake Hampton who allowed six hits and five runs in 4 1/3 innings and went 2-for-4 at the plate. “We have six errors and you’re not going to win many games with six errors.

“None of us want to go home tomorrow, so we’re going to come out and just try to win the ballgame.”

The Bears battled back out of the loser’s bracket last year and reached the title game before finishing second. Can they reach the title game again?

“I definitely think we’ve got the guys to do it,” Hampton said. “I think we will be in the championship game Sunday.”

Jake Garella was 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored for the Bears.

Down 9-5 headed to the bottom of the eighth, the Bears scored three runs against reliever Sammy Rowan. Singles by pinch-hitter Jacob Kanallakan and catcher Steven Pattan — who is a remarkable 10-for-11 in three games at the tourney with a walk in 12 plate appearances — got the rally rolling.

Collin Clayton drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder and Garella followed with an RBI single. Hampton’s grounder to third was bobbled by Trever Zink, who then threw wildly to first as Garella circled the bases.

That cut Rockport’s lead to 9-8, but Rowan retired Mitchell Krebs on a groundout to end the inning.

The emotion from the rally was quickly drained when Rockport feasted on three straight bases-loaded walks with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to push its lead to 12-8.

Metro-East rallied for a run in the ninth, but Rockport closer Corey Ehelhard earned his third save in three games to help his team improve to 3-0 at the tournament.

“Six errors,” Bears manager Ken Schaake said. “That’s the difference, and the fact that we had as many walks in the game as we did. Yesterday we were pretty lucky, (Storm) Coffman went six or seven and didn’t walk anybody and Garella was pretty strong the game before with just the two walks and three hits.”

Jakob Shuler and Sammy Rowan each had three hits for Rockport and Rowan contributed 5 2/3 innings of relief work after statrer Hunter Rowe was hit for four runs in the first 2/13 innings.

Rowan also scored four runs.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the first when Cole Cimarolli reached on a leadoff walk and came around to score on an RBI single by Hampton.

Rockport answered with a run in the top of the second as Rowan blasted a leadoff triple to left and scored on an RBI single by Andrew Hayden.

Rockport nearly got more, but Hampton made a nice play to catch Hayden off third base and Hayden was tagged out in a rundown.

Rowe walked the bases loaded with no outs in the third and recent Edwardsville High graduate Tyler Stamer made him pay with a two-run single to left. Mitchell Krebs scored on a wild pitch as the Bears’ lead grew to 4-1.

Pattan, who singled to left in his first at-bat for his ninth straight hit in the tournament, walked to load the bases but Rowan escaped further damage.

Rockport cut the Bears’ lead to 4-3 in the fourth, then tied it in the fifth on an RBI single by Caleb Helms.

Rockport manager Jim Haaf is in 50th season and is hoping to make a Legion World Series appearance. A few more games like Friday night’s and he may lose some sleep along the way.

“It was one of those things where we got behind and were able to catch up,” Haaff said. “We donated a little bit ourselves and then they turned around and donated a little bit themselves. We took advantage of that and it was a tough ballgame. We knew it was going to be. “

Madison (Wis.) 1, Beloit (Wis.) 0

In the Battle of Wisconsin, Madison (35-4) beat Beloit for the third straight time - including twice at the Wisconsin state tournament - to send their Badger State rivals home.

Madison’s Jordan Gomez fired a complete-game, four-hit shutout and Beloit had a runner thrown out at the plate for the final out of the game. Beloit’s Kevin Raisbeck walked and went to second on a wild pitch, then was gunned out at the plate by Madison left fielder Andrew Pliner.

Pliner drove in the game’s only run in the sixth innings with an infield hit that scored Lucas Trebian.

Beloit pitcher Cade Johnson allowed four hits and one run in eight innings.

Bay City (Mich.) 12, Shelbyville (Ky.) 2

Bay City (41-20) sent Shelbyville home quickly, piling up nine runs and riding an eight-run third inning. Montre Petre homered and had three RBIs for Bay City while Jaret Koin and Austin Koin were a combined 5-for-10 with three RBIs.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 10:55 PM with the headline "Metro-East Bears can’t hang on at Legion tourney, fall to Indiana state champs."