Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

Belleville East Downs Waterloo in 10 innings

April 24, 2015

By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

WATERLOO, IL – A day after dropping a tough one-run loss to No. 2 Edwardsville, Belleville East bounced back on Friday to steal a 5-3 road victory over Waterloo in 10 innings.

Belleville East (11-6), which had been shut down since the third inning, finally broke a 3-3 tie in the 10th to snap Waterloo’s five-game winning streak. The Lancers erupted for four hits in the inning, including back-to-back doubles by junior LF Isaiah King and senior SS Alex Phillips. Junior catcher Drew Millas added a RBI single in the inning to give Belleville East a 5-3 advantage.

King and Phillips, the Lancers’ No. 8 and 9 hitters, served as the team’s offensive catalysts. In the third inning, King singled and scored on Phillips’ run-scoring double as Belleville East jumped out to a 3-0 lead. King finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs, while Phillips tallied a pair of doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. Millas, a switch-hitting Missouri State recruit, added a pair of run-scoring singles.

The offensive heroics were made possible thanks to the gutty performance of right-hander Mitch Harlan, who pitched six innings of shutout relief. Harlan struck out seven, walked two and yielded three hits in his six innings. And he always seemed to deliver in the tight situations. For example, in the eighth, Waterloo loaded up the bases with one out, and Harlan wriggled out of the jam by notching consecutive strikeouts. In the ninth, when Waterloo had runners on first and second two outs, Harlan got a strikeout to get out of the inning. Fittingly, he also ended the game with a strikeout.

Harlan relieved sophomore left-hander Cody Freppon, who showed potential of being one of the up-and-coming pitching prospects in the St. Louis-metro area. Freppon struck out four, walked one and yielded six hits (five of which came in the fourth inning) and two earned runs in four innings.

Waterloo scored two runs in the fourth inning to tie the game at 3-3. Aaron Laskowski and Brett Degener each had run-scoring singles in the inning. Junior SS Kane Osterhage also doubled and scored a run in the inning. Senior Ryan Aycock had two hits for Waterloo, and sophomore 3B Erik Kaiser added a hit and a run-scored.

More in-depth scouting notes will be updated in the Illinois Scout Blog later.

Related Content