Eagles soar to supersectional

Jack Steckler scores for Columbia during Saturday’s sectional final win over Mater Dei.

The Columbia High School baseball team is one win away from a trip to the state tournament.

On Saturday, the Eagles (25-7-1) posted a 6-1 victory over Mater Dei to take the Class 2A Teutopolis Sectional title.

Sophomore righthander Lucas Riebeling pitched six and one-third innings of one hit baseball, striking out 10. He improved to 6-0 on the season with a 0.70 ERA.

Columbia began its scoring on a wild pitch in the first inning to go up 1-0. Mater Dei answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.

The Eagles plated three runs on three hits in the second inning, giving Riebeling some breathing room.

In the fifth inning, Jack Steckler doubled and scored to put Columbia comfortably ahead at 6-1.

Dom Voegele came on in relief of Riebeling to record the final two outs of the contest.

Alex Schreckenberg went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Kyle McConachie went 1-for-4 with three RBIs for the Eagles, who now face conference rival Freeburg (24-13) at the Class 2A Southern Illinois University Carbondale Supersectional. First pitch is at 2 p.m. Monday.

Columbia edged Freeburg twice during the regular season, 2-1 on April 14 and 7-6 on May 7.

McConachie, a senior infielder, leads Columbia in hitting this spring at .402 with 37 runs.

Top pitchers for the Eagles in addition to Riebeling are righties Logan Mueller (6-0, 2.66 ERA) and Voegele (7-3, 1.87 ERA).

Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
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