American National Concludes Relentless Stretch

ST. LOUIS—After a brutal beginning to their summer baseball schedule that included 13 games in eight days, the American National Eagles of the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association (SLABA) were hoping that coach Bill Becher would give them the day off on Sunday and Monday.

And Becher planned to do just that, but he told the team of 18-and under all-stars from high schools all over North St. Louis County, that if they wanted those two days off, they had to earn them.

“I told the guys if they played hard these last two games, then I’d give them both those days off,” Becher said. “We’re all tired from all these games. I need the days off, too. But we still need to play hard. And they definitely did. I’m not unhappy at all.”

Nor should he be.

The Eagles went 8-5 this week, which included playing through some record 100-degree heat on Thursday and Friday.

But the worst of it was probably on Saturday, when the Eagles had to play two games, including one at UMSL and another at Harris-Stowe. Each game was played with outside temperatures surpassing 100 degrees.

“Just got to battle through it,” Becher said. “It’s definitely hot out there. But these guys can handle it. We played two good games, made a few mistakes, but overall, I’m pretty happy with what we’ve got (so far).”

On Saturday, the Eagles began the day with an early afternoon matchup at UMSL against another North County summer-league team, the St. Louis Cougars.

The Cougars are led by senior-to-be Matt Leinberger, who hit .349 with two homers and 24 RBIs for the Wildcats this past spring.

On Saturday, though, Leinberger was a star on the mound where he tossed a complete game for the Cougars, allowing just three runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts. Leinberger didn’t pitch much for West during the high school season because the undermanned Wildcats needed him to play exclusively at shortstop.

Fortunately for American National, their starter, Lutheran North’s Brendan Buenger, was even better on Saturday. He didn’t allow any runs, and only gave up four hits with six strikeouts in what became a 3-0 Eagles win.

“I thought Brendan pitched outstanding,” Becher said. “He was in complete control. He gave us a real good effort when we needed it.”

The hitting star of Saturday’s first game was another Hazelwood West senior-to-be, catcher Oday Al-Yatim, who smoked two base hits, including a two-run double in the top of the seventh that gave American National its 3-0 edge.

First baseman D.J. Johnson drove in American National’s first run with a double of his own down the right-field line.

In the second game of the day, an early evening affair at Harris-Stowe, the Eagles took on the Ontario Prospects, a team of high school all-stars from Canada. That matchup proved to be the exact opposite of the pitcher’s duel from earlier.

Both teams smacked the ball around the park against their opponent’s weary pitching. The Prospects had 12 hits, including seven in a six-run sixth inning that seemed to bust the game wide open.

But the Eagles laced five hits of their own in the sixth, and scored five runs to make the score 8-7 heading into the final inning.

Hazelwood West junior-to-be Shane Olmstead was a key figure in the rally. He drove in schoolmate Joe McCune with a line-drive single to get the effort started, and finished the day with two hits and two RBIs.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles managed to get its first two batters on base, but those runners were stranded when the next three hitters struck out to end the game.

“That wasn’t how we wanted to end it, but it was still a good week for us,” Becher said. “We’re going to enjoy these two days off, get our rotation back in order, and be ready to play a big-league game on Tuesday.”

That matchup on Tuesday will be an important one for the Eagles as they’ll be taking on rival Eagles West in a key SLABA game at the Hazelwood Sports Complex at 5:45 p.m.

American National will also host home games on Wednesday and Thursday at the . On Wednesday, the Eagles play the St. Louis Browns, and on Thursday they play the O’Fallon American Legion team, with both games set to start at 5:45 p.m.

Next weekend, American National will be playing in another tournament, the TeamExposure.com College Prospects Invitational at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon.

For now, Becher is just glad his team made it through their relentless schedule during the first week of the season.

“This was a hard week, but we’ve got some days off coming,” Becher said, “and that’s really going to help us.”