Thursday, August 9, 2007 11:03 PM CDT
Defending champ ousts Post 88
AMERICAN LEGION STATE TOURNAMENT
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
MATTOON - This time Mattoon Post 88 had Arlington Heights 208’s attention.
Or at least, Arlington Heights was interested in playing baseball.
That might not have been the case when Mattoon knocked off the defending American Legion state champion last month in the third-place game of the Champaign Wooden Bat Invitational.
"I think that was a situation where we were playing on a Sunday afternoon and we were a little disappointed we weren’t playing for the championship," Arlington Heights coach Eric Porter said. "I think we were a little anxious to get home, not to take anything away from Mattoon."
On Thursday Arlington Heights did not want to go home.
It made sure it could stay here at least another day beating Mattoon 12-1 in an elimination game of the American Legion state tournament at Grimes Field.
That more than atones for a 5-4 Mattoon win over Arlington Heights in the Champaign tourney.
"We kind of wanted to get some revenge," said Arlington Heights pitcher Kyle Gaedel, who limited Post 88 to two hits through seven innings and helped his cause with a double and a single. "We’ve only lost 10 games this year. When we face someone that’s beat us we like to beat them."
So after losing Wednesday’s first-round game 5-2 to Rock Island Post 200, Arlington Heights improved to 31-10 advancing to today’s noon game in this double-elimination tourney to run through Saturday.
Post 88, which received an automatic state berth as the tourney host, had its season end 23-29 after losing 11-9 to Danville on Wednesday night and then in what turned into a rout by Arlington Heights on Thursday afternoon.
"We could have beaten both of those teams," said catcher Lyle Seaman, who had one of Post 88’s three hits in the elimination game. "We just weren’t making the plays and getting the hits when we needed them."
Coach Steve Metzger saw the spirit of his Post 88 team leave after Wednesday’s game when an early 6-0 lead turned into the loss to Danville.
"It reminds me of the district after we lost our first game," Metzger said. "It was almost identical."
Of course, having to play a power like Arlington Heights did not help.
"They’re divison champions," Metzger said. "They’re one of the top five teams in the state. Just to play with them is an honor."
Thanks to Trevor Buford’s two-out running scoring double in the third inning, Post 88 was in this game trailing just 2-1 after the third innning and trailed just 3-1 in the fifth inning when Josh Wilson hit into an inning-ending double play.
Arlington Heights scored two more runs in the sixth and if the game was still in doubt then, it was not after Post 88 committed four of its seven errors of the game in Arlington Heights’ five-run seventh inning.
Post 88 could have played flawless defense and still not found enough offense against the trio of Arlington pitchers who combined for a three-hitter.
Gaedele, who is to be a senior at Rolling Meadows High School, needed only 67 pitches in his seven-inning stint that included one strikeout and three walks.
"I didn’t try to strike anybody out," Gaedele said.
Tim Scanlon homered in the ninth inning to cap his
3-for-5 day and Matt Serna tripled and doubled while also going 3-for-5 for Alington Heights, which if anyone doubted the defending champ after its Wednesday loss showed its stuff in the state toourney’s second day.
"We were disappointed with (Wednesday’s) start,"
Poerter said. "I don’t think we played as well as we could. I think we’re still one of the teams to beat.
Our kids have battled back. We were in this situation just last week."
Arlington Heights came back through the losers’
bracket to win its First Divsion tourney.
Today’s probable starting pitcher is Scott Winters, who after a season at Wisconsin-Parkside is transferring to Heartland College.
Winters was not with the team Thursday when attending his great-grandmother’s funeral.
"I’m sure he’ll enjoy the conversation on the phone to hey, come on down here," Porter said.
Post 88, meanwhile, at least enjoyed its chance to participate.
"It was fun," Seaman said. "Not too many people get to play in the state."
Arlington Heights AB R H BI
Churchill, rf 3 0 0 0
Uhle, lf 4 2 1 0
Henning, cf 1 0 0 0
Gaedele, p 4 1 2 1
Ganek, ss 4 1 1 1
Serna, 1b 5 3 3 3
Scanlon, 3b 5 2 3 2
Butkus, c 5 1 1 1
Lorenz, 2b 5 1 1 0
Smith, cf 4 1 0 1
Totals 40 12 12 9
2B-Gaedele, Serna, Ganek. 3B-Serna. HR-Scanlon.
SB-Uhle. S-Smith, Churchill.
Mattoon AB R H BI
Wilson, cf 4 0 0 0
Buford, rf 3 0 1 0
Snowden, lf 1 0 0 0
Seaman, c 4 0 1 0
Willison, 3b 0 0 0 0
White, ss 2 0 0 0
Bradley, p 3 0 1 0
Miller, ss 3 0 0 0
Fairchild, p 1 0 0 0
Mann, 1b 2 0 0 0
Harrington, ph 1 0 0 0
Burson, 2b 1 1 0 0
Hood, 2b 1 0 0 0
Davis, lf 0 0 0 0
Holmes, rf 1 0 0 0
Totals 27 1 3 1
2B-Buford. S-Bradley, Davis.
Arlington Hts. 002 102 502 - 12-12-2
Mattoon 001 000 000 - 1-3-7
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO
Arlington Heights
Gaedele 7 2 1 1 3 1
Lorenz 1 0 0 0 0 1
Anderson 1 1 0 0 0 3
Mattoon
Bradley 7 9 10 3 1 4
Fairchild 2 3 2 1 2 1
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or
238-6856.
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