Eagles aim to close season strong
The Columbia High School baseball team has won six of seven recent games and faces a busy week to close out the season.
On Monday, the Eagles (15-9) won 3-0 at home over Breese Central. Jackson Holmes homered and pitched six shutout innings for the victory. Sam Bonaldi went 2-for-3 with an RBI and pitched the seventh inning for the save.
On Tuesday, Columbia celebrated senior night in style with a 12-0 victory at home over Wood River. Senior pitcher Nolan Zarek pitched a five-inning no-hitter, striking out 10 and walking just one. He also went 2-for-3 at the plate with four RBIs.
On Wednesday, the Eagles won 15-1 over Carlyle. Holmes homered and had four RBIs. Logan Mueller went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
On Saturday, Columbia dropped a 5-3 contest at Highland.
Last Friday, the Eagles won 3-1 against Triad. All runs in the game were scored in the sixth inning. Dom Voegele struck out seven in a complete game pitching effort. Logan Mueller went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and Matt Howard added two hits.
Last Thursday, Columbia won 7-1 over Okawville courtesy of a six-run fourth inning. Drew Graves and Trey Hemminghaus has two RBIs each.
Last Wednesday, Howard and Graves knocked in three runs each in a 7-3 victory over Salem.
Columbia plays Friday at Wesclin and Saturday at Belleville East.
Howard leads the team in hitting at .452 with 16 runs, followed by Bonaldi at .431 with 21 runs. Tate Schilling is hitting .381 with a .523 on base percentage.
Holmes, a Saint Louis University commit, is 5-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 31-plus innings pitched.
Gibault (9-11) lost 5-2 at home to Civic Memorial on Tuesday despite getting two hits each from Hudson Blank, Ian Bollinger and Daniel Darin.
The Hawks won 7-1 at Valmeyer on Saturday. Eli Garcia went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Kameron Hanvey went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Hawks pitching held the Pirates to only four hits.
Last Friday, Gibault lost 4-3 at Roxana despite taking a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. Darin went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two RBIs. Ryan Bollinger threw six and one-third innings.
Last Wednesday, Gibault lost 4-0 at Belleville East. Hanvey had two of the team’s three hits and swiped two bases.
Garcia leads Gibault in hitting at .350 with 16 RBIs and 13 runs, followed by Ian Bollinger at .340 with 10 RBIs and Hanvey at .309 with 18 runs and 23 stolen bases.
Ryan Bollinger is 3-3 with a 1.83 ERA.
Gibault hosts Sparta on Thursday and plays Saturday at Wood River and Monday at Red Bud.
Valmeyer (9-10) lost 7-4 at Steeleville on Wednesday. Evan Rowe-Brown homered and Jacob Rowold went 2-for-3.
The Pirates posted a 9-1 win at Red Bud on Tuesday.Rowold had a hit, three RBIs and three runs to help his own cause. He threw a complete game on the mound, allowing just three hits.
Valmeyer followed up Saturday’s home loss to Gibault with another silent offensive day at Father McGivney on Monday. The Pirates lost 5-0.
Last Thursday, Rowold went 4-for-4 with two triples, a double and nine RBIs in Valmeyer’s 15-0 win at home over New Athens. Elijah Miller went 2-for-2 with two RBIs.
Rowold leads the Pirates in hitting at .451 with a .616 on base percentage, 19 RBIs, 22 runs and eight triples and is 4-3 on the mound with a 2.85 ERA. Henry Weber is hitting .339 for the Pirates, who host Steeleville on Thursday, host Nashville on Friday and host Chester on Saturday.
Waterloo (6-18) lost 6-3 to Jerseyville on Monday. Marcus Heusohn doubled, had an RBI and scored twice. The Bulldogs lost 2-0 to Jerseyville on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the ‘Dogs won 15-7 over Althoff in O’Fallon courtesy of an 11-run second inning. Evan Davis went 3-for-4 with a home run, double and four RBIs. Luke Davis pitched four innings for the win.
Last Friday, Waterloo won 9-4 at O’Fallon. An eight-run fifth inning boosted the ‘Dogs. Mason Hoffmann gave up just six hits in the complete game pitching performance.
Last Wednesday, Waterloo lost 9-0 at Highland.
Evan Davis is hitting .308 for the ‘Dogs and Logan Hopfinger is 2-3 on the mound with a 2.06 ERA.
Waterloo hosts Freeburg on Saturday.
Dupo (2-9) lost 7-4 to Marissa last Thursday. Camden Biggs went 2-for-4 with a run and threw a complete game.
Biggs is 1-1 on the season with a 2.86 ERA.
Anthony Castaldi (.393) and Nate Ticer (.364) are the top hitters for the Tigers, who play Thursday at Red Bud.