Stallions Continue Winning Run

LAKE SAINT LOUIS – Even with their best pitcher on the mound Wednesday night, the American National Eagles couldn’t get past their archnemesis, the Stallions Baseball Club of and St. Peters, in a critical SLABA League varsity division game at .

Last week, American National took one on the chin in a 15-2 loss to the Stallions at the Hazelwood Sports Complex, due mostly to a night of hot-hitting by the SLABA League frontrunners from the Wentzville and St. Peters area.

But on Wednesday, American National did most of the damage to itself, with a series of critical errors and miscues that lead to a Stallions 6-0 win.

“We made more errors in one inning than we did all last weekend,” Becher said. “It just bugs me that we went from hitting the (lights) out of the ball all weekend, and winning four in a row, to this (terrible) not tonight.”

For most of the night the play between the Eagles and the Stallions was pretty even.

Both starting pitchers looked to be on their ‘A’ game bests, mowing down opposing hitters with veritable ease.

But the difference came in the bottom of the second inning, when a gut-wrenching American National error, on a play that could’ve ended the inning, led to a four-run frame for the Stallions, which proved to be more than enough scoring on Wednesday night.

Stallions catcher Cody Spotanski (Fort Zumwalt South) was at the plate with two outs, with teammates Brandon Sugar (Fort Zumwalt East) and Dylan Schindler (Francis Howell Central) at first and third, respectively.

American National pitcher Mike Eagan (Hazelwood Central) only needed an out to get out of the inning, and he seemed to get what he wanted when he induced a groundball to his team’s best defensive infielder, shortstop Brendan Buenger (Lutheran North).

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the ball took a bad hop and bounded past Buenger, which allowed Sugar to score the first run of the game.

The next batter Jamie Graeser (Fort Zumwalt North) smashed a basehit to center that would’ve loaded the bases, but anticipating a play at the plate, American National centerfielder Mike Hardin airmailed a throw home that sailed way high and way wide of catcher Oday Al-Yatim (Hazelwood West), which allowed a second Stallions run to score.

But the big blow of the inning came off the bat of Wade Rothermich (Fort Zumwalt North), who drilled a basehit to right that scored two runs and gave the Stallions what proved to be an insurmountable lead.

“I don’t know what it is, but we get real tight when we play these guys,” Becher said. “They’re kids, you know, and that’s really it.”

American National’s best scoring chance came in the fifth, when Shane Olmstead (Hazelwood West) and Curtis Nothdurft (Pattonville) led off the inning with singles, but a strikeout and a hard-hit groundball that was turned into a double play by the Stallions ended that threat with no damage done.

“I thought we played a real good game in every phase,” Stallions head coach Scott Seddon said. “We’ve kind of done that for most of the season. And we’ve made people pay for making mistakes.”

Lew Caradonna (Fort Zumwalt North), who’s headed to next fall, as is Rothermich, was the winning pitcher for Stallions.

He pitched all seven innings, for a complete-game shutout, and allowed six American National hits, with six strikeouts.

“Lew’s a bulldog out there,” Seddon said. “He wants the ball every night. And we love giving it to him. He’s gonna battle for you every time he goes out there. And I bet tomorrow, he’ll come up to me and say he can pitch again if we need him to.”

Wednesday’s victory gave the Stallions, who have a 15-6 overall record this summer, and an 8-1 mark in SLABA play, a firm grip on first place in the varsity division.

American National, which fell to 16-16 overall and 8-3 in league play, missed its chance to grab a share of first place with the loss.

Had the Eagles won on Wednesday, both clubs would’ve had 8-2 SLABA marks with two weeks left in the season.

Now, the Stallions have the clear-cut edge with just five league games left in the season.

This weekend though, both American National and the Stallions will step away from SLABA play, and participate in the Metro East Wood Bat Tournament, which is being played at several locales in Illinois.

American National will have games on Friday and Saturday at Glik Park in Highland, while the Stallions will play on those same days, at Hoppe Park in Edwardsville.

The Stallions next home game will be Friday, July 8, when they’ll host Eagles West, at 6 p.m., at St. Charles Community College.

American National’s next home game is Tuesday, July 12, when they’ll host the Jefferson County Blazers, at the Hazelwood Sports Complex, at 5:45 p.m.