The game between the Collinsville High School baseball team and Peoria Richwoods Sunday, May 18, was notable because the Kahoks had a chance to win their third game in a row. But, perhaps most notably, the game was played at Busch Stadium.

Matthew Cook takes the field at Busch Stadium / Photo by John Layton

Under the lights at the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Kahoks (18-12 overall, 8-4 SWC) defeated Peoria Richwoods 8-7.

Under the rules for high school games played at Busch, the teams were allowed to play a nine-inning game, or for two and a half hours. Collinsville, the home team, closed the game out in the top of ninth with just a minute or two to spare before reaching the time limit at 7:52 p.m.

Collinsville Head Coach Pete Trapp said it was an fun day,overall, for the team, despite being a long one.

“It’s kind of tough sometimes when you sit here for 10 hours,” Trapp said. “We got here at 10:40 a.m.”

Collinsville may have watched the Cardinals blow a lead and lose to the Atlanta Braves, but it did not follow the bad example set by the major-league team.

Finally getting on the field at 5:22 p.m., the Kahoks jumped on Peoria Richwoods early and finished with a total of 15 hits.

Trapp said he was happy with what he saw from the offense.
“I was actually very pleased how well we put the ball in play and put the ball in play hard,” Trapp said.

Several Kahoks finished with multiple hits. Ryan Hoffman had two singles and two RBIs, and Aaron Peskar had two singles as well. Aaron Ortiz had two doubles and scored two runs. Dylan McEwen finished with two singles and an RBI.

Kyle Reeves and Mitch Reising both had triples. Brandon Harris had a double.

All in all, 22 batters dug in for Collinsville, and Trapp said it was fun trying to get as many players in the game as he could.

“We enjoyed … getting to experience playing on a field that 99.9 percent of us will never get to play on realistically,” Trapp said. “It helps when you have a bunch of hits so you can get more kids at bats.”

Trapp said he hopes the Kahoks can keep the offense up when they play Belleville East Monday, May 19, at 4:30 p.m. in Belleville in a preview of the first game of Regionals.