Yellowjackets celebrate winning season with a picnic
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester Yellowjackets celebrated their winning season with a picnic last month. The coaches named all the players, highlighted the big wins, and congratulated those that lettered and received honors.
The freshmen of the 2012 season were Hunter Howie, Wyatt Ruehling, Dalton Stahlheber, Elijah Hasemeyer, Liam Canady, Josh Miller, Ronald Kueker, Trevor James, Cody Eggemeyer, and Brandon Sauerhage. Sophomores were Johnathan Brake, Austin Redeker, Jared Johnson, Kramer Eggemeyer, John Hanger, Colin Canady, Alex Yankey, Brenton Atchison, Jake Lochhead, and Brad Asselmeier. Players from the Junior class were Caleb Arbeiter, Boyd Miles, Casey Venable, Dalton Misuraca, Chris Schwartz, Trent Eggemeyer, Austen Barnhart, Patrick McMath, and Alex Weir. This year's senior teammated were Brandon Young, Greg Rowold, Matthew Heberlie, and Joseph Allison. Steven Colonel and Christian Gray served as faithful managers, chasing foul balls, working the scoreboard, and calling out the batting order.
Besides head coach Jeremy Blechle, the Yellowjackets' staff included Billy Belton, Eric Skorcz, Curt Owen, Glenn Long, and JV Head Coach Josh Hecht.
Coach Blechle commented on a few special varsity wins this season. Beating Sparta and Trico twice, and defeating Goreville, Red Bud, and Perryville highlighted the 21 & 8 record. Beating Johnston City for the 20th win and the Conference Title, and defeating Zeigler Royalton in the first game of the Regional Tournament will always be memorable. The Yellowjackets also won their own Wooden Bat Tournament as well as the tournament hosted by Steeleville.
Chester had 3 players named to the Black Diamond All-Conference teams. Caleb Arbeiter was named to the first team and was also selected as captain of the squad. Casey Venable was selected to the second team, while Chris Schwartz was named honorable mention. Dylan Witthoft from Trico also earned honorable mention.
The Southern Illinois Baseball Coaches choose an all-star roster to play in a game each summer. For the senior division, Matt Heberlie from Chester, Darius Jackson and Austin Peck from Sparta, and Dylan Witthoft from Trico were selected. For the junior division, Caleb Arbeiter, Chris Schwartz, and Casey Venable from Chester were named as well as Seth Sheldon and Justin Meyerhoff from Sparta.
Caleb Arbeiter was one of 34 players from Southern Illinois to be chosen to the 2012 All-South Baseball Team. A junior, he batted .446 with 16 doubles, 3 triples, and one home run while driving in 25 runs with 3 stolen bases. On the mound, he went 8 & 3 with 2.86 ERA, struck out 101 batters and walked only 27.