Wednesday, August 8, 2007 11:02 PM CDT
Freak play helps St. Charles blank Belleville
AMERICAN LEGION STATE TOURNAMENT
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
MATTOON - While praising his defense, St. Charles Post
342 pitcher Brian Dela Torriente also should have thanked the first base bag.
On a day when Belleville Post 58 had plenty of bases runners, one of its biggest threats came in the fifth inning when it loaded the bases.
When Belleville's Marcus Hustedde hit a shot seemingly headed toward the right field line, Dela Torriente had the presence of mind to head toward the base.
"I heard it hit and I thought maybe the first baseman had a chance at it," Dela Torriente said.
Instead, the ball hit the first base bag and bounced backward to where the St. Charles pitcher could field the carom, run to the base and record the inning-ending out.
"That was a tough break," Belleville coach Mike Harres said. "It could have been the game."
It probably was as Dela Torriente went 8 1/3 innings in Wednesday afternoon's heat before getting relief help from Adam Shiltz who preserved St. Charles' 2-0 win in the opening game of the American Legion state baseball tournament at Grimes Field.
"Sometimes you have to have luck, too, and I did,"
Dela Torriente said.
Eastern Illinois coach Jim Schmitz is likely interested in the incoming St. Charlest North High School senior for his skills as well as Wednesday's good fortune.
Dela Torriente, who also has drawn interest from Northern Iowa, said he has talked to Schmitz and planned to visit EIU's Coaches Stadium today before
23-16 St. Charles' 3:30 p.m. winners' bracket game today.
First, the infielder/pitcher also planned to get some rest.
"This is the longest I've gone all year," Dela Torriente said. "I'm tired. It's very out out there.
My defense played great today., especially my catcher Mike Corrigan. That had to be hot for him today."
On a day when Belleville had nine hits, Dela Torriente wiggled out of a man-on-third-with-one-out predicament in the third inning when he recorded two of his four strikeouts. He also was helped by a pair of double plays while Belleville left 10 runners on base.
"I guess I knew I had to bear down and not let them score, and as I said I got help from my defense," Dela Torriente said, St. Charles committed only one error and issued no walks.
"We've been playing real solid defense," St. Charles coach Dale Wilderspin said. "You've got to give the pitcher and catcher a lot of credit especially the catcher. He was drained after the game. He may have lost 10 pounds today and he's pretty slender anyway."
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when St. Charles' Zachary Duetscher was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Corrigan singled, Vincent Frede advanced the runners with a sacrifice and Michael Sentman brought home a run with a ground out.
Frede, headed to Augustana, was 3-for-3 including an insurance-run single in the eighth inning driving home Alex Beckman, who singled, took second on Duetscher's sacrifice and went to third on a balk.
That eighth-inning run loomed large when Belleville's Kyle Mertens hit a one-out double in the top of the ninth.
That brought to the mound Tri-State University's Adam Shiltz.
"He's the only 19-year-old on the team," Wilderspin said. "He's really savvy. We bring him in a lot."
Shiltz issued a walk to his first batter, got a the second out on a fly ball, hit a batter to bring up the top of Belleville's order but then recorded the save with a game-ending ground out.
"Their pitcher was very good and we could not get the big hit," said Harres, whose Belleville team fell to 34-7. "I'm happy with the way we played. That's the kind kind of game you like to see. The last thing I expected was a 2-0 game in this heat. We were missing our fifth and sixth place hitters and it's funny how often that comes up."
Randy Hoelscher, who struck out nine batters and walked none while allowing 12 hits in eight inning, suffered the loss for Belleville, which is to play at
7 p.m. today.
Belleville AB R H BI
M. Matecki, ss 4 0 1 0
Mueth, 1b 3 0 1 0
Hustedde, rf 4 0 1 0
T. Matecki, df 4 0 1 0
Goelat, lf 4 0 0 0
Mertens, 2b 4 0 1 0
Alberter, c 3 0 2 0
Hoelscher, p
Schweppe, pr 0 0 0 0
Burke, dh 3 0 0 1 0
Johnston, 3b 3 0 1 0
Totals 32 0 9 0
2B-Alberter, Mertens. S-Burke, Mueth.
St. Charles AB R H BI
DeMartino, 2b 4 0 2 0
Ask, cf 4 0 2 0
Beckman, rf 4 1 2 0
Duetscher, lf 2 1 0 0
Corrigan, c 3 0 1 0
Frede, ss 3 0 3 1
Sentman, 3b 4 0 0 1
Grunewald, 1b 4 0 0 0
Cooper, dh 3 0 2 0
Totals 31 2 12 2
S-Frede, Deutscher..
Belleville 000 000 000 - 0-9-0
St. Charles 000 100 01x - 2-12-1
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO
Belleville
Hoelsher, L 8 12 2 2 0 9
St. Charles
Dela Torriente, W 8 1/3 9 0 0 0 4
Shiltz, S 2/3 0 0 0 0 1
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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