Alton Post 126 Wins By Forfeit Over East St. Louis, Defeats Valmeyer Junior Legion Team 13-1 In Five Inning Game

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Jun 19, 2019 5:43 AM Jun 20, 2019 3:22 PM

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EDWARDSVILLE – The Alton Post 126 baseball team won an abbreviated five-inning game over the Valmeyer junior Legion team 13-1 on Tuesday night after winning their scheduled game by forfeit 7-0 over East St. Louis at Roy E. Lee Field on the campus of SIU-Edwardsville.

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The forfeit came about when East St. Louis was unable to field a complete team of nine players, causing them to no-show for the game. Valmeyer’s junior team agreed to the shortened game in its place, and the Legionnaires played very well in the replacement game.

“It went well,” said Alton manager Doug Booten. “We pitched a couple of people who don’t usually pitch a lot, but we’ll need them later on this season. And some of the positives were that we hit the ball really well, we played good defensively, and we were able to play some guys in spots that they don’t get a lot of time playing at, because we never know when we’ll have an injury.”

Alton scored twice in the first, starting with back-to-back lead-off walks to both Jayce Maag and Gage Booten, then with one out, both Preston Schepers and Cullen McBride were hit by pitches to force home the first run, then Ethan Kopsie hit into a fielder’s choice, forcing Schepers at third, but Booten scored to make it 2-0 after one-half inning.

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The Legionnaires then scored seven times in the top of the second, all with two out. Maag drew a walk, then was doubled home by Booten, with Booten taking third on an error by the right fielder. After Ryan Best was hit by a pitch, Schepers hit a pop-fly that fell into right field for a hit, scoring Booten and advancing Best to third. McBride was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Kopsie singled home another run to make it 5-0. Schepers then scored on a wild pitch, and a single from Adam Stilts brought home McBride to make it 7-0. Griffin Bianco was then hit by a pitch to reload the bases, and a Jacob Weidner RBI single and an error brought in two more runs to make it 9-0.

Valmeyer got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a pair of lead-off walks, a fielder’s choice and an RBI single to make it 9-1, but Alton then scored four more times in the top of the fourth, starting with a lead-off triple by Stilts, and after a walk to Bianco and a Weidner strikeout, Maag doubled home a pair of runs, and after a walk to Booten, one out later, Schepers tripled home two more runs to make it 13-1.

Maag pitched the final two innings, allowing only one hit and fanning three to preserve Alton’s 13-1 win.

In the Junior Legion game that was the curtain raiser, Best drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth to give Alton a 7-6 win over Valmeyer. Schepers and Owen Stendeback both had two hits on the day, while Owen Macias drove home a pair of runs, and Nate Lemons also had an RBI. Zach Knight struck out three in four-plus innings of work, while Lemons fanned two in three-plus innings.

The Legionnaires are officially 7-5 on the year with the forfeit win over East St. Louis, and will play in a tournament in Peoria this coming weekend, then will compete in the annual Firecracker tournament at various sites in the Metro-East during the Fourth of July weekend. Booten is looking forward to both tournaments, and to the competition, they both will provide for his team.

“That part of the state has some good competition,” Booten said in reference to the Peoria tournament, “and then we have the Firecracker tournament, so we’re trying to see some good competition from around the state.”Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.