Elgin American Legion wins first game of baseball tournament

The Elgin American Legion Post 57 baseball team outlasted Plover, Wis., Post 543 for a 2-1 victory in 11 innings in the opening game of the Great Lakes Regional Tournament in downstate Alton on Wednesday.

In a game delayed by rain for three hours at the outset, Larkin graduate Brayden Royse drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the 11th inning against Plover starting pitcher Cal Giese (St. Cloud State) to score South Elgin graduate Nick Menken with the go-ahead run. Menken sparked the winning rally by drawing a two-out walk.

Elgin Post 57 reliever Austin Sayre notched the one-inning save by striking out the final batter he faced with a runner at first base. That made a winner of fellow South Elgin graduate Ryan Weiss, a Wright State commit who limited Plover to 1 run in 10 innings and struck out 3.

Illinois state champion Elgin Post 57 (35-1-1) will face the Michigan state champion in Round 2 on Thursday, time to be determined.

South Elgin graduate and incoming Eastern Illinois freshman Dane Toppel tripled to lead off the fourth inning and later scored on a groundout by Menken to stake Post 57 to a 1-0 lead.

However, Plover knotted the score 1-1 in the seventh when Giese clubbed a one-out solo home run off Weiss.

Plover had runners at first and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Elgin catcher Dan Lenz, a Larkin graduate committed to Elgin Community College, picked off the runner at third base to send the game to extra innings.