High School boys from Illinois and Missouri took to Veterans Field in Hannibal for the Missouri vs. Illinois All-Star Baseball Game Saturday, July 12.
Hancock County was well represented, with five of the 18 Illinois All-Stars. Illini West’s Shawn Watkins Jr., Nick Johnson, Carter Chapin and Stephen Sparks appeared, along with Griffin Tippey of Southeastern. Six Illinois pitchers got a combined no-hitter, the first in the all-star game’s 11-year history, for a 15-1 win.
Carter Chapin struck out swinging to lead off the game. Abraham Wiewel of Quincy Notre Dame (QND) doubled to right. Colton Dryden of Hannibal struck out Griffin Tippey swinging. Ethan Heller of Beardstown grounded out to second to end the top of the first inning. Tanner Riddell of Beardstown started on the hill for the Illinois All-Stars. Chayce Webster of Clark County grounded out to second base to lead off the home first inning. Nolan Epperson of Mark Twain flew out to right field. Dryden popped to third base to close the first inning.
Watkins and Johnson both grounded out to start the top of the second inning. Zach Desollar of Beardstown drew a walk. Logan Sutton of QND had an RBI single to plate Desollar for a 1-0 lead. Sparks was hit by a pitch. Simon Rabe of Unity walked and moved Sparks to second base. Chapin popped out to the catcher in foul territory for the third out. In the Missouri All-Stars second inning, Cade Fallert of North Shelby popped out to first base. Trey Hatcher of Macon grounded out to second base. Brett Enrenreich of Canton was out at first on a dropped third strike to close the inning.
Wiewel flew out to Konnor Asbury of Hannibal in right field; Asbury made a highlight reel catch in foul territory for the first out in the top of the third inning. Tippey and Heller both drew back-to-back walks. Watkins struck out swinging for the second out. Johnson grounded out to second base to close the half-inning. Asbury flew out to Sparks in left field leading off the home third inning. Tucker Elliot of South Shelby and Ryan Moss of Monroe City grounded out to the shortstop to end the inning.
Preston Burns of Macon came in to pitch the top of the fourth inning. Desollar greeted him with a double. Burns struck out Sutton swinging for the first out. Sparks singled to right and took second on the throw in. Rabe hit a sacrifice fly to score Desollar for a 2-0 lead. Tim Hull of Pittsfield drew a walk. Wiewel tripled to right field, scoring Sparks and Hull for a 4-0 score. Jack Sparrow of Liberty drew a walk. Jack Buss of Brown County was hit by a Burns pitch and moved Sparrow to second. Watkins got an RBI single to plate Wiewel to extend the lead to 5-0. Connor Howell of Payson-Seymour singled to score Sparrow and Buss to make it 7-0. Nathan Konrad of Quincy High grounded out to second base for the third out of the half-inning. Macon Kessler of Rushville-Industry entered to pitch the home fourth. He induced Webster to ground out to the shortstop then struck out Epperson swinging and Burns looking for a one-two-three inning.
Epperson took the mound to pitch for the Missouri All-Stars. Clayton Reinhardt of Pittsfield grounded out to the shortstop for the first out. Sparks walked and took second on a passed ball. Rabe singled to left and moved Sparks to third. Rabe stole second base. Hull walked to load the bases. Wiewel singled to score Sparks and Rabe to up the lead to 9-0. Sparrow tripled to plate Hull and Wiewel for an 11-0 cushion. Buss struck out swinging for the second out. Watkins popped out to second base to end the half-inning. Nick Kelso was out at first on a dropped third strike for Missouri. Dylan Ross of Monroe City struck out looking and Cade Lehman of Palmyra grounded out to third base to close the fifth inning.
Cade Fallert came in to pitch for the Missouri All-Stars. Howell drew a walk and went to second on a passed ball. Konrad popped out to the shortstop for the first out. Reinhardt flew out to left for the second out. Sparks singled to right and Howell scored for a 12-0 margin. Johnson drew a walk. Hull fouled to third base to end the half-inning. Johnathon Hager of Highland become the first Missouri All-Star base runner as he drew a walk. Brendan Hughes of Louisiana struck out looking for first out. Brayden Moss of Mark Twain grounded into a double-play to end the inning.
Moss set down Tippey, Sparrow and Desollar in order in the top of the seventh inning. Howell entered as pitcher for Illinois in the bottom of the seventh. Henry Bohlmeyer of Centralia struck out swinging. Hatcher grounded out to Howell for the second out. Dryden was hit by a pitch. Burns and Kelso drew walks to load the bases. Ross followed with a walk to plate Dryden for the first Missouri run and a 12-1 score. Lehman struck out looking for the third out.
In the Illinois eighth inning, Buss grounded out to second base. Rabe struck out swinging for the second out. Howell singled to center and Konrad followed with a single to deep third. Reinhardt reached on an error by the second baseman and Howell scored for a 13-1 advantage. Tanner Riddell of Beardstown struck out looking to end the half-inning. Tippey pitched the bottom of the eighth for the Illinois All-Stars. He walked Hager then struck out Hughes looking and Moss swinging for the first two outs. He walked Bohlmeyer and Asbury and struck out Fallert swinging to end the inning.
Heller grounded out to third base to open the Illinois ninth inning. Chapin doubled. Tippey followed with a double to score Chapin for a 14-1 lead. Sparrow tripled to right field to score Tippey and the 15th run for the Illinois All-Stars. Buss walked. Desollar grounded out to the pitcher and Kessler grounded out to second base to close out the half-inning. Reinhardt pitched the home ninth. He struck out Tucker Elliot of South Shelby swinging for the first out. Burns grounded out to second. Sparks came in to pitch and he threw submarine-style like Dan Quisenberry and struck out Ross swinging to end the game and give the Illinois All-Stars the 15-1 win.
Dryden was the Missouri MVP and Wiewel took the Illinois MVP.