Now in its second year, the Columbia Post 581 Junior American Legion baseball program is fielding a competitive squad under head coach Andrew Thompson.

Columbia is 3-3 on the season, with several early games on the schedule having been postponed due to rain.

Wins for Post 581 have come against Litchfield, St. Libory and Jerseyville, with losses to both Highland and Bethalto. 

Post 581 has received good pitching performances from both Jake Steve and Sam Bonaldi in the early going.

Bonaldi, a junior-to-be at Columbia High School this fall, saw limited varsity playing time with the Eagles this past spring.

“(The) wins have been total team efforts,” Thompson said. “There isn’t one specific player that stands out as of right now. Hitting has been a mixture of everyone stepping up when they’re called upon.”

Post 581 played at Alton on Monday and was scheduled to play a doubleheader on Tuesday. 

In addition to Steve and Bonaldi, other Post 581 team members are Jay Mistler, Nolan Zarek, Will Denny, Colin McClaren, Max Woelfel, Chase Schrader, Jack Steckler, Colin Cygan, Andrew Maulding, Zac Anderson, Reed Drabant, Brennan Weil, James Hettenhausen, Drew Graves, Drake Wittenbrink, Alex Schreckenberg, Matthew Howard, Jackson Holmes and Jonah James.