Fairview juniors advance to state tournament

Fairview Heights remains alive in its bid to win a second straight Junior American Legion state championship.

Post 978 advanced to the state tournament by sweeping through the Fifth Division Tournament, which was held Friday through Sunday in Pinckneyville. Fairview Heights (25-3) clinched a berth by beating Breese 7-4 on Sunday afternoon and earned the No. 1 seed in its division by beating Mount Vernon 8-6 on Sunday night.

Manager Jeff Birk’s squad will play at 9 a.m. Thursday in a first-round state tournament game at Champaign Centennial High School. The eight-team, double-elimination tourney continues through Sunday or Monday.

“Some of these kids were with us last year when we won state, so we’ll go up and see what we can do,” Birk said. “I talked to the tournament director and he said it’s a pretty strong field, so I hope we can hold our own.”

Center fielder Billy Ferreri was among the standouts for Post 978 in the win over Mount Vernon. He went 1 for 2 with four RBIs, including a sacrifice fly in the first inning, a bases-loaded walk in the second and a two-run double in the fourth.

“He was busier than usual in the outfield with four or five catches,” said Birk, whose team has won nine in a row. “He had to fill the gap on a couple of them and that helped keep their runs to a minimum.”

Aaron Krummrich drove in two runs while Vinnie Birk (Jeff’s son) was 2 for 3 and scored two runs.

“The top of the order did a lot of damage,” Birk said, “which is what they’ve been doing all year long.”

Nate Schmittling pitched the first four innings to earn the win.

“He had a tough third inning, but at this point of the season, your pitching staff is pretty well worn down,” Birk said. “If he can hold them to one run an inning, it’s enough to keep us in the game, and that’s what he did.”

Alex Siddle threw scoreless fifth and sixth innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

“They loaded the bases with one out and got a ground-rule double to make it 8-6,” Birk said. “He pitched on short rest after throwing against Freeburg Thursday in the district (22) tournament, so we were just trying to get as much out of him as we could.”

Vinnie Birk took over the pitching duties and got the second out when Ferreri made a diving catch on a sinking liner to center field. After walking the next batter, Birk struck out Mount Vernon’s No. 3 hitter to clinch the win.