American Legion: Bounce Back Attitude
The temperature Wednesday was hot. The Harrisburg American Legion Post 167 bats were equally as hot.
Harrisburg racked up 21 hits en route to a 15-9 win Sparta at the 5th Division American Legion Tournament in West Frankfort.
Austin Hefner paced the Harrisburg offense at the plate, going 4-for-6 with two doubles and an RBI in the win for Post 167, while Drew Woolcott finished 3-for-6 with a pair of RBI.
Britton Riden went 2-for-5 with three RBI, while Bryce Emery, Noah Vallette, Patrick Bittle, Adam Ninness and Presley Gauch all had two hit. Emery, Vallette and Ninness all had two RBI.
Jordan Gould went 1-for-5 with an RBI, while Austin Stevens had a single into shallow left field in the top of the ninth inning for Harrisburg.
It was a bounce back loss for Harrisburg, who was in an elimination game with Sparta after losing a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Metropolis that ended just before midnight Tuesday.
Former Harrisburg standout and McKendree senior Cody Hall was acting head coach in place of Doug Emery and said it was nice to see the bats come alive.
"It was a late night (Tuesday) night and for us to come back and scoring 15 runs on 21 hits is big."
Harrisburg grabbed the early lead when Hefner's RBI double in the second inning, scored Ninness for the early 1-0 lead.
Post 167 then broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the third when a bases loaded walk to Ninness scored Vallette and Gould's single to short scored Bittle.
Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth, Harrisburg broke the game open with a five-run fourth were Emery blasted a two-run home run off the scoreboard in left field and that followed with RBI's from Riden and Ninness.
Sparta cut the deficit to three with a four runs in the fourth to make it 8-5, but Harrisburg continued to stretch the lead with two more runs in the fifth when back-to-back singles by Woolcott and Ninness scored Hefner and Vallette.
Harrisburg put up three more runs in the eighth inning to make it 13-5 and added two more in the top of the ninth when Stevens had a two-out single to left field and then scored on Vallette's single. Emery, who doubled following Stevens' at-bat, scored on a Riden's single.
Harrisburg used a stable of pitchers on Wednesday as Austin Hefner got the start and the win working four innings, allowing five runs on five hits. Hefner struck out one and walked three.
Hefner gave way to Woolcott in the fifth inning and the Eldorado product who will play his college ball for nearby Southeastern Illinois College, pitched three innings and Patrick Bittle closed out the ninth and despite giving up four runs, helped Harrisburg stay alive.
"We started with Hefner and he hasn't thrown in a while, so it was good to get him back out there. It was good to bring back Drew Woolcott, I thought he did a really good job and having Bittle in the ninth was huge."
Harrisburg will get the loser of the Herrin/Metropolis game Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in another win or go home game.
It will be the fourth ballgame in as many days for Harrisburg and Hall has noticed how the wear and tear is starting to show on some of his players.
"I don't think we started Tuesday night's game until 9:15 p.m. and didn't get out of (West Frankfort) till well after midnight and to have to come back Wednesday for a 4:45 p.m. game in the heat, shows a lot about our players. They really want to win."
Also on Wednesday, Highland eliminated New Baden 6-2 and will play the winner of Herrin/Metropolis today at 4:45 p.m.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.