Raiders Hit their Way to Championship

The Belleville Raiders Home Talent baseball team played and hosted the Western Section semi-final game Sunday, August 15th. The Raiders as the one seed battled the five seed Dodgeville. The Raiders pitching was on fire, but, even more impressive, their bats collected 20 hits in a 16-2 win.
Justin Langley pitched for seven innings, striking out 18 batters of the 21 he faced, while allowing 1 unearned run. Curtis Sheahan came into the game to pitch the last two innings, striking out four while allowing 1 earned run.
The Raiders jumped to an early lead after a 1st inning homerun by Drew Haack, his first of the year. The bats came alive in the 2nd inning. Belleville would tally 11 hits in the inning and score 11 runs. Nolan Kehiller recorded a single and double in the inning, Curtis Sheahan would record a double as well. Brock Gilkes, Sam Urquhart, Drew Haack, Derek Baumgartner, and Justin Langley all added hits in the inning. After two innings of play, Belleville had secured a 12-0 lead and wouldn’t look back. In the 6th, Baumgartner would lead off with a double and later score. In the 8th inning, the Raiders would add 2 runs on a Blake Noel single, and Logan Ludlum scored on an Urquhart single. Leading hitters were Matt Everson 3-3, Justin Langley 2-3, Logan Ludlum 2-4, Drew Haack, 2-5, 1 HR, Brock Gilkes 2-3, Nolan Kehiller 2-4, Sam Urquhart 2-4, Derek Baumgartner 2-4, Blake Noel 1-2, and Jaydon Winkers 1-1.
The Raiders will be playing again this Sunday, August 22nd, at Community Park. They will be hosting the Fever of Shullsburg in a Western Section championship game. First pitch is slated at 1:00 p.m. Shullsburg comes into the game as the five seed. The game is a rematch from July 25th, where Belleville won 6-3. Come out and show your support. GO RAIDERS!