Freight win 4 of 5 in Missouri

Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 - 01:44:58 pm CDT
By Chris Stalter, Sports Editor

Vandalia's men's fastpitch softball team won four of five games on Saturday and Sunday at the ISC Crossover Weekend in St. Charles, Mo.

Guaranteed Air Freight improved to 9-2 with the showing. After a busy start to the season, the Freight and are now idle until June 1, when they visit Lee's Sports of Radom. The rest will give the Freight some time to recover from playing five games in two days in St. Charles.

On Saturday, the Freight opened play with a 14-0 victory against the St. Louis Steinals.

Greg Bellaver made his 2005 pitching debut, striking out 14 in five innings. He allowed only four hits and one walk in the victory.

The Freight jumped out to a 4-0 lead with four runs in the seconds. Brian Buscher drove in two runs with a single. Mike Simmons added an RBI triple.

The Freight exploded for seven runs in the third inning to put the game away. Mark Burnam hit an RBI double, and Kevin Cook, Simmons and Jeremy Moore hit RBI singles. Rich Well hit a two-run homer.

For the game, Burnam and Jeff Jarrett had three hits apiece. Simmons and Moore finished with two hits and two RBIs apiece. Bellaver tripled twice. Buscher and Cook had a hit and two RBIs apiece.

The Freight came right back to beat the St. Louis Vettes, 9-2.

Bellaver again earned the victory, striking out four and walking four. He allowed only three hits.

The Freight scored nine runs on nine hits, with five runs scoring in the second inning. Moore broke the inning open with a three-run homer.

Bellaver homered to finish the scoring in the fourth inning.

The Freight improved to 3-0 for the weekend, with a 4-0 victory against Hermann Black and Gold.

Alan Meinhart sparkled in the circle, striking out 13 in seven innings. He allowed only two hits and walked none.

The Freight scored in the first on an RBI single by Well after a walk to Simmons and a sacrifice by Moore.

Simmons tripled in the third, scoring on a fielder's choice by Moore.

Moore drove in two more runs in the fifth, with a two-run triple.

The Freight topped St. Charles Lanes, 5-4, to give Nick Casey his first pitching victory of the spring.

Casey struck out nine and walked only two in seven innings of work. He scattered seven hits. None of the four runs he allowed were earned.

The Freight came back from a 4-0 deficit, completing the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jarrett drove in the tying run with a fielder's choice. Simmons drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly.

In the final game of the weekend, the Freight fell to the St. Louis Heat, 2-1.

Meinhart did not allow an earned run in the defeat. He struck out nine and walked one in six innings. He allowed only five hits.

The Freight stranded 12 runners on base, scoring their lone run in the fourth inning.

The Heat scored their runs in the fifth.

After playing Radom on June 1, the Freight return to tournament play at the ISC Qualifier in Decatur on June 4-5.