Blue Devils’ Schroeder doesn’t wait until seventh to deliver game-winning RBI single

ALTON, Mo. — Walk-off Joe didn’t get the opportunity to end the Quincy High School baseball team’s regional victory in heroic fashion

So junior second baseman Joe Schroeder settled for a game-winning hit an inning earlier.

Following Noah Harbin’s two-out triple in the sixth inning of Thursday’s Class 4A Alton Regional semifinal at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Gordon Moore Park, Schroeder jumped on a fastball from Granite City’s Dakota Armour and drove it through the right side of the infield to plate the only run the Blue Devils needed.

Grayson Cook then stranded a runner at third base in the seventh with a strikeout to end QHS’s 1-0 victory.

“Everything in the regular season builds up to this,” Schroeder said. “That’s the moment that kind of makes it all feel worth it. Just a great feeling.”

The Blue Devils (18-12) advance to face top-seeded Edwardsville (28-4) for the regional championship at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“That’s going to be a tough one,” Schroeder said. “But we’ll come ready to battle.”

That’s become the Blue Devils’ mentality.

It started Thursday with Cook, the senior right-hander who has signed with John Wood Community College. He limited the Warriors to one hit through the first six innings and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the seventh.

“Grayson threw an amazing game,” Schroeder said. “He kept us in there, kept us going, kept the energy up. That was his game there.”

He struck out nine and walked one.

“He really hit the outside well and put the ball in a place where they couldn’t do much with it,” Schroeder said. “He hit his spots perfectly.”

The Blue Devils finally gave him some run support in the sixth.

After a strikeout and a groundout, Harbin drove the ball into right-center field and turned it into a triple. That set the stage for Schroeder, who had two walk-off hits during the regular season.

“I know I have to get a single,” Schroeder said. “There’s no situational hitting with there being two outs. I wanted to take until I got a strike. I was just saying to myself, ‘I’m looking for a fastball, and if it’s over the plate, I’m going to try to do something with it and get it to the outfield.’

“He threw me a fastball and I did what I could with it.”

It was a mixture of excitement and relief when he safely reached first base.

“It was probably a happy medium between those two things,” Schroeder said. “(Assistant coach Randy) Mettemeyer at first base giving me a big high-five. It was an amazing feeling seeing Noah get congratulated coming back into the dugout.

“Then, it’s like, ‘All right, we’ve got to focus up and go get three outs in the seventh.’”

That wasn’t easy.

After a strikeout to start the inning, Granite City’s Lucas Haddix doubled to center field. A fly ball to center allowed Haddix to tag up and reach third base, but Cook struck out the Warriors’ Peyton Fedorsak to end the game.

QHS finished with six hits offensively as Schroeder had two and Cook and Brady Walker each doubled.