EDWARDSVILLE - The Metro East Bears American Legion baseball team went undefeated over the weekend to win the Ron Bone-Ray Abernathy Invitational tournament.
The Bears got a three-hitter from Andrew Yancik as they defeated Terre Haute, Ind., in Sunday's final 3-0; all three runs came from the bat of Blake Vandiver drove home Corey Price and Joel Quirin on a double in the bottom of the first, then drove home Quirin with a sixth-inning single; Vandiver accounted for two of the Bears' three hits in the final while Quirin had a double that led to the final Bears run of the game.
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Yancik went the distance and struck out one in getting the win in the final.
The Bears also defeated Eureka, Mo., in a semifinal game prior to the final, scoring an 11-1 win over Post 177. Cole Hansel was 1-for-3 with a homer and RBI for the Bears, while Quirin went 4-for-4 with a triple and Vandiver was 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs; Steven Pattan was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Price 1-for-4 and Yancik and Will Messer were both 1-for-2 with RBIs.
The Bears opened the tournament Friday with a 9-6 win over defending Illinois state Legion champion Danville, who had defeated Metro East by the same score in the final of the Greenville Wood Bat Tournament June 11. The game was highlighted by a six-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth. Dylan Burris was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, Messer was 1-for-1 with a triple and three RBIs, Hansel went 2-for-4, Kade Burns 1-for-3 with a double and RBI, Yancik 2-for-3 and Konnor Loewen 1-for-2 with a RBI. Devin Colley got the win while fanning three.
Saturday, the Bears defeated DeSoto, Mo., 7-3 and Charleston, Mo., Green 18-7, to move into the semifinals. In the DeSoto win, Quirin had a 2-for-4 game with a double and RBI, Burris went 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Tate Wargo went 1-for-1 with a RBI and Price was 1-for-3; Brandon Hampton got the win, striking out six for the Bears.
Against Charleston, the Bears took a 5-2 lead through two innings before Charleston tied it with three in the third, but Metro East scored five times in the fourth, once in the fifth and seven times in the seventh to get the win. Price went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, Steven Pattan was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs, Burns went 4-for-5 with two triples and six RBIs, Wargo 2-for-5 with two RBIs, Loewen 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, Chance Foss and Hansel both 1-for-5 and Quirin 1-for-5 with a double. Storm Coffman fanned two in getting the win.
The Bears, now 14-4 on the summer, hosts Jerseyville at 8 p.m. today and Highland at 8 p.m. Tuesday, both at SIU-Edwardsville's Roy Lee Field, before heading to Belleville for a game aganst the Hilgards at Whitey Herzog Field at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Bears are at Smithton at 6 p.m. Thursday before visiting American-National of Hazelwood, Mo., for a 6:45 p.m. Friday game.
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