Eggemeyer leads Steeleville to 25th District win
<p dir="ltr"><span>MARION -- Cody Eggemeyer's teammates may owe their pitcher a steak dinner.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Eggemeyer struck out a career-high 18 batters in a complete-game three-hitter, and Steeleville Post 480 defeated Marion, 6-0, on Saturday in the first round of the double-elimination American Senior Legion 25th District tournament.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Eggemeyer came three strikeouts shy of the American Legion record and allowed only one baserunner - Aaron Farthing's infield single in the fourth - through six innings.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>He also gave up only one walk, which came in the bottom of the eighth.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"Certain days, I just feel I'm hitting the spots well," Eggemeyer said. "(Saturday) was definitely one of those days.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"I don't really try to hit spots, it just ends up happening."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>While Eggemeyer was turning in a masterful pitching performance, Steeleville was struggling to break through against Marion pitcher Kurt Smith and the Post 147 defense.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>At one point, Steeleville had 11 hits, but only one run to show for it. Post 480 ended up out-hitting Marion 17-3.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"From a coaching perspective, you're only good as your starting pitching," said Steeleville Junior Legion coach Jacob Wente, who was filling in for senior legion coach Bill Grafton. "Cody was special (Saturday).</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"There's no other way to put it. He was getting ahead in the count, getting strike one, keeping that leadoff hitter on base and a lot of credit goes to (catcher) Luke (Hartman) as well."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>With Hartman framing the strike zone, Eggemeyer struck out at least one batter in every inning, striking out three in the third, fourth and fifth innings.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"The four-seam fastball worked the best (Saturday) because (Marion) couldn't touch it," Eggemeyer said. "Everything worked out well, didn't have any issues."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Trailing 2-0 in the seventh, third-seeded Marion threatened to break the shutout when Smith hit a one-out single and Jacob Griffin added a two-out base knock two batters later.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>But Smith was left stranded at third when Matt Medina popped out to shortstop Nic Hagel to end the inning.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>No. 4 Steeleville then scored four insurance runs in its turn of the ninth against Smith and relievers Brayden Simich and Farthing.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Josh Ryder led Steeleville at the plate with a 4-for-5 performance, while Hagel went 3-for-5 with a two-run double and four RBIs.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Brett Bunselmeyer (3-5), Kasey Wilson (2-4), Dylan Brasel (2-4) and Ethan Little (2-3) also had multiple hits for Post 480, which advanced to face second-seeded Herrin today in Herrin.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"I'm hoping the kids come out and play well," Wente said. "They had fun (Saturday) and we'll just take it one day at a time.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"In these tournaments, you can't look too far ahead."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Steeleville scored its first run in the third and its second in the seventh before breaking the game open in the ninth.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Note</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>• </span><span>Eggemeyer had 14 strikeouts in a 4-1 loss to Marion in the second half of a doubleheader on June 28, giving him 32 strikeouts in his last two appearances against Post 147.</span>