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7.0 years ago @ 8:56AM

O'Fallon tops Alton Baseball 7-0 - The Telegraph - 4/28/2016

REP BASEBALL: O’Fallon tops Alton 7-0

By Greg Shashack - gshashack@civitasmedia.com

 


Alton pitcher Jacob St. Peters reacts after walking in a run in the third inning of Thursday’s game against O’Fallon at Alton High School. 
Billy Hurst | For The Telegraph
Alton’s Steven Pattan, left, leaps for an errant throw as O’Fallon’s Ben Belongy steals second base Thursday at Alton High School. 
Billy Hurst | For The Telegraph

GODFREY — The Southwestern Conference baseball standings reveal a tight race remains for the title.

But any performance-based evaluation suggests the O’Fallon Panthers have separated themselves from the pack of top contenders in the league.

O’Fallon again dealt its ace at Alton on Thursday and Bradley Harrison extended his season of excellence by shutting out the Redbirds 7-0 at Alton High. Harrison threw a complete-game three-hitter, walking one and striking out eight.

“Pitching is a real integral part of any game plan,” Alton coach Todd Haug said. “And in this case, when you’ve got a lefty like him, you like your chances. You get behind your horse and you ride him all the way through. He was dominant from start to finish.”

Harrison, a senior left-hander signed with SIUC, improved to 7-0 while lowering his ERA to 0.26. In 53 innings, he has allowed 20 hits and 15 walks while striking out 75. Harrison also shut out the Redbirds 5-0 on two hits March 29 in O’Fallon.

“Just very good today,” O’Fallon coach Jason Portz said his ace. “You saw in the latter innings, he was able to change his approach up a little bit, went from his slider to his breaking ball as well as his changeup. They started to square some balls up and were getting a little better timing. Bradley’s able to go out there and command both sides of the plate and he’s able to throw four pitches for strikes.

“When you’re able to do that, you’re going to be a quality guy on the mound. I don’t care if you throw 88 or 92 or 72, you’re going to have a chance to win.”

The victory was 12th straight for O’Fallon since suffering back-to-back losses to Collinsville on March 31 and Naperville North on April 1. The Panthers are 20-3 and 7-1 in the SWC. Alton, which has lost nine of its last 10 meetings with O’Fallon, drops to 15-7 and 5-3 in the conference.

Edwardsville and Belleville West both posted SWC victories Thursday – the Tigers beat Collinsville 7-2 and the Maroons beat Belleville East 4-3 – to stay one-game back of the Panthers at 6-2 in the SWC.

But O’Fallon has owned the league’s elite in 2016, beating Edwardsville 12-2 and West 10-0. Throw in the two wins over Alton, and the Panthers have outscored their chief rivals in the SWC race 34-2.

All five of those victories came with Harrison on the mound. The win over Alton was the 23rd of his career, tying him with Brian Gass (2005-06) for No. 6 on O’Fallon’s all-time wins list. Harrison is 22-3 to go along with offensive ranks of No. 4 with 106 career RBI and No. 3 with 135 hits for the Panthers.

O’Fallon got to Alton senior Jacob St. Peters for two runs in the third inning. The Panthers tacked on two more in the fourth and three in the fifth. Four Redbirds pitchers combined to allow eight hits and eight walks.

St. Peters, who came in with a 5-0 record and 1.54 ERA, suffered his first career loss in nine decisions. He left with one out in the fourth inning, surrendering four runs on four hits, four walks and three hit batters.

“An uncharacteristic outing by our guy,” Haug said. “But it’s April. It’s kind of up and down lately, but we’ll bounce back. All you have to do is be hot at the end.”

The Redbirds hinted at getting to Harrison in the fifth and sixth, but both threats fizzled.

The 20-win season is the 14th in a row for O’Fallon, with that streak starting in the first of Portz’s 14 seasons as head coach at his alma mater. Included among the crowd to watch the Panthers at Alton’s new field, stationed in lawn chairs near the O’Fallon dugout, were retired baseball coaches Tom Pile of Edwardsville and Ken Schell of Jersey. Portz welcomed the scrutiny from the hall of famers.

“It’s a good day when Tom Pile and Kenny Schell come out,” Portz said. “Any time you’ve got two guys that have fields named after them watching the game, you’re real happy.”

 
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