Tanner Houck faced one batter over the minimum Tuesday afternoon, firing only 78 pitches in a complete game, 7-0 shutout of Belleville West in Southwestern Conference play at Fletcher Field.

Tanner Houck / Photo by Roger Starkey

Houck struck out nine Maroons, walked one and surrendered only one hit. He was backed by errorless defense and a diving catch by Aaron Peskar that Head Coach Pete Trapp called “one of the greatest high school catches ever made.”

Trapp said Houck threw a very good game.

“He had command of all of his pitches,” Trapp said. “I was very pleased with the way he threw.”

The Maroons (9-10, 3-5 SWC) best chance of scoring came in the third inning when Brendan Saak led off with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and raced towards home on a passed ball.  The Kahoks (12-7, 5-3 SWC) were able to throw Saak out at the plate. Houck retired the next 13 batters to record the second Kahok shutout of Belleville in less than a week.

Trapp juggled the Kahoks’ lineup Tuesday, searching for something to spark an offense that had averaged two runs per game in their previous six, including getting shutout twice. Collinsville was 2-4 during the stretch.

The revamped line up did not pay immediate dividends, waiting until the fifth inning to break the 0-0 score. Grant Bauer started the rally with a one-out single. Daniel Franke followed with a single ahead of Mitch Reising’s run scoring double. Two batters later, Ryan Hoffman doubled home Franke and Reising.

Collinsville added four more in the sixth on hits from Aaron Ortiz, Kyle Reeves, Franke and Dylan McEwen. Bauer reached on a walk and Hoffman was hit by a pitch. Ortiz, Reeves, Bauer and Fanke scored in the frame for the Kahoks.

Bauer, Franke and Hoffman had two hits each to pace Collinsville. McEwen (2), Franke (2), Hoffman (2) and Resing (1) drove in runs for the Kahoks.

Collinsville and Kyle Reeves (4-0, 1.30 ERA) host O’Fallon at 4:30 Thursday at Fletcher Field.