Five Spartans capture top 10 placements at Charleston, Second shut-out of SJ-O baseball, Heritage splits two

By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com

St.  Joseph-Ogden’s boys’ track and field team placed fourth in the Class 1A division of the 34-team Charleston Indoor Invitational on Saturday at Eastern Illinois University.

The Spartans totaled 36 points. Meet champion Pleasant Plains had 45 points.

SJ-O won the 800-meter relay (1 minute, 35.93 seconds) and took third in the 1,600 relay (3:42.25).

Individually, five Spartans captured top 10 placements.

Aiden Meyer was the runner-up in the 60-meter dash (7.26 seconds).

Isiah McCune finished fourth in the 3,200 meters (10:25.14), Brady Buss was fifth in the 400 meters (54.35), Eric Poe was sixth in the 800 meters (2:07.32) and Nolan Peacock was ninth in the pole vault (12 feet, 6 inches).

SJ-O will return to competition on Friday in the Class 1A division of the unofficial indoor state meet, sponsored by Illinois Prep Top Times, at Illinois Wesleyan University, in Bloomington.

A complete list of entries will be released on Tuesday night.

Baseball

Joe Acton pitched a one-hit shutout, and struck out five on Thursday, as St. Joseph-Ogden recorded its second consecutive shutout, a 23-0 triumph over visiting Armstrong-Potomac.

The Spartans put the game away with an 18-run second inning.

Drew Coursey collected three hits and drove in four runs. Crayton Burnett registered two doubles and had two RBI. Adam Rose also had two hits and knocked in three runs.

The Spartans (3-1) bounced back from a 4-0 Friday loss to Belleville West and handed Harrisburg a 4-2 loss in eight innings on Saturday in the Metro East Classic.

SJ-O created a 2-2 tie in the seventh-inning, forcing extra innings on Blake Primmer’s sacrifice fly.

Coursey’s two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning sent the Spartans ahead to stay.

Reliever Keegan McCarty pitched four innings of hitless relief, striking out four, and earned the win.

Burnett, Kaden Jacobs and Nick Boggs each totaled two hits for SJ-O.

In the Friday shutout loss to Belleville West, Sam Wesley and Adam Frerichs accounted for the lone Spartans’ hits.

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday at home against Tuscola (4-0).

Villa Grove/Heritage

The Hawks (1-2) split two home games on Saturday, edging Paris 6-5 in nine innings and dropping an 11-7 decision to Paris.

Carson Howard drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to force in the game-winner against Paris.

Howard and Noah Davison each had two RBI. Teammate Kane Davison had three hits.

Nathan Chewning, the fourth VG/Heritage pitcher, picked up the win after working one scoreless inning.

In the loss to Paris, Noah Davison delivered four hits, included a double and a triple, and three RBI. Keagan Patterson and Kane Davison each ended with two hits.

Logan McKee, the second of VG/Heritage’s five hurlers, suffered the loss.

Villa Grove/Heritage returns to action today at Monticello.