It took a full seven innings and a little bit of luck, but Trenton’s Post 778 American Legion baseball team won its 14th straight game Monday night, a 3-2 decision over Vandalia that pushed the Gator’s overall record to 18-4.

Despite a deceptive 4-14 record, Vandalia gave the local nine all they could handle, plating both runs in the first off Trenton ace Jameson Rakers.

Rakers locked down the visitors after that initial burst, and Trenton edged their way back into the contest. Ryan Spicer bunted for a single in the Gator’s half of the first, and advanced to second on a throwing error, eventually scoring on another Vandalia miscue.

The score stayed 2-1 until the fifth, when Blake Zurliene’s sacrifice fly tied the game. Trenton won when Spicer reached on an error ahead of back-to-back walks to Justin Dunning and Tyler Shaw. Spicer scored the game winner on a fielding error.

Trenton is now 8-1 in 23rd district west division play, with their only district loss to Centralia.

Junior Legion Report: Trenton’s Junior Legion team split four games over the past week to move their season mark to 16-12. On Friday, the Junior Gator beat South Central 10-3 behind pitcher Dustin Pendergraft. Saturday, Post 778 lost both games in a doubleheader to Sparta, a team they had swept in a twinbill earlier this year. Luke Gruender tossed six scoreless innings for Post 778 in the first game, but Sparta tied the contest at 1-1 in the seventh and went on to win by a single tally in ten innings, despite being outhit 9-4 by Trenton. On Monday, Michael Diekemper held Vandalia to a single run on four hits at the Junior Gator posted a 6-1 win. The juniors open 23rd District play Saturday at Effingham. Pairings have not yet been released for the double elimination tournament.

Trenton rolled through pool play in this past weekend's "Gator Classic" with victories over Sparta, Urbana, and Albion/Browns.

The Urbana win was the only one that came easy for the hometown "Gator," who got a series of outstanding pitching performances and played solid defense on their way to the title.

Trenton 3, Sparta 1

Tyler Shaw's solid mound performance was rewarded with enough offense to get a win in the feature game of the Gator Classic's opening day. Trenton scored a run in the fourth and two more in the sixth to seal a tight victory over Sparta, a last-minute addition to the tournament to replace Bethalto.

Jim Ritzheimer reached on a single and scored on Shawn Brueggemann's sacrifice fly in the fourth, and Jameson Rakers and Ryan Spicer both doubled in the sixth to account for two more Trenton runs.

Trenton 13, Urbana 2

Jameson Rakers didn't need much run support Saturday night against Urbana, but he got plenty of it, as Trenton's bats came alive in a runaway win over Urbana, who went on to lose 2-1 to Belleville in the third place game.

Trenton scored in each of the game's first four innings, including a six-run fourth frame that gave Rakers all the cushion he would need.

Trenton piled up six base hits in the decisive inning, including doubles from Paul Ritzheimer, Ryan Spicer, and Jim Ritzheimer, a triple from Shawn Brueggemann, and singles from Tyler Shaw and Jameson Rakers.

Trenton 6, Albion 5

Ryan Spicer picked up the win in relief in what was Trenton's closest game of the tournament, a Sunday morning affair against Albion-Browns, who Post 778 had tagged with an epic 20-plus run performance last year.

The Torpedoes hosted the Cahokia Swim/Dive Team in Trenton on Saturday, June 30th. The Torpedoes put on a good show for the home crowd and won the meet very easily. A number of pool records were set and many swimmers had their personal best times during the meet.

Following a loss to Waterloo on Saturday, the Torpedoes have a dual meet record of 3-2 leading up to next week’s conference meet.

Here are the results from the Cahokia meet.

Diving

10 and under boys: Brennan McVey 2nd

10 and under girls: Emma Haag, 2nd; Katja Doebelin,3rd

11-13 boys: Conward Swift 3rd; Michael Swift 4th; Jason Bliven 6th

11-13 girls: Stephanie Cathcart 1st

14 and over boys: Ryan Turner 1st; Scott Delorme 5th

14 and over girls: Stephanie Saunders 1st; Maria Zagorski 2nd

Winning medley relays

9-10 boys: Will Kasson, Wade Rieger, Cameron Cathcart, Liam Meier

9-10 girls: Alexis Strieker, Renee Rivera, Rachel Ford, Lauren Donnewald

11-12 boys: Andrew Timmermann, Nathan Kunz, Daniel Takacs, Jason Bliven

11-12 girls: Anna Quitmeyer, Kami Moorhead, Danielle Kalmer, Tori Krumsieg

13-14 boys: Michael Swift, Kenny Krumsieg, Kyle Baer, Nick Stason

13-14 girls: Maria Zagorski, Lauren Haukapp, Sarah Denaro, Lauren Dowd

15-18 boys: Alex Timmermann, Jordan Gibson, Scott Delorme, Blake Gibson

15-18 girls: Jenny Scheuchner, Zoe Conley, Shelby Baer, Caitlyn Dunning

Winning freestyle relays

9-10 boys: Will Casson, Wade Rieger, Cameron Cathcart, Ryan Timmermann

9-10 girls: Zoe Conley, Aspen Lohman, Amanda Boeckman, Oceana Templin

11-12 boys: Andrew Timmermann, Brian Kunz, Alex Timmermann, Jason Bliven

11-12 girls: Danielle Kalmer, Kami Moorhead, Anna Quitmeyer, Tori Krumsieg

13-14 boys: Nick Takacs, Daniel Takacs, Michael Swift, Conward Swift

13-14 girls: Sarah Denaro, Tori Krumsieg, Maria Zagorski, Cristina White

15-18 boys: Jordan Gibson, Blake Gibson, Adam Ford, Scott Delorme

15-18 girls: Jenny Scheuchner, Shelby Baer, Amy Ford, Caitlyn Dunning

Individual Results

8 and under boys: Jacob Brown, free 3rd, back 1st, breast 3rd; Ryan Timmermann, free 4th, fly 3rd, breast 2nd

8 and under girls: Maddie Chapman, free 1st, fly (new team pool record time) 1st, breast 1st; Paige Thomas, free 2nd, fly 3rd, back 2nd; Gretchen Krumsieg, fly 2nd, back 1st, breast 2nd

9-10 boys: Liam Meyer, free 1st, fly 3rd, back 3rd; Cameron Cathcart, free 2nd, back 2nd, IM 2nd; Will Casson, free 5th, fly 4th, breast 1st; Tyler Woods, fly 1st, back 1st; Wade Rieger, breast 2nd, IM 3rd; Blake Baer, IM 1st,

9-10 girls: Tia Bliven, free 2nd, back 2nd, breast 3rd; Oceana Templin, free 4th, back 3rd; Amanda Boeckman, free 5th, back 5th; Rachel Ford, fly 1st, IM 1st; Zoe Conley, fly 2nd, IM 3rd; Aspen Lohman, fly 4th, breast 4th; Lauren Donnewald, breast 2nd; Alexis Strieker, IM 2nd

11-12 boys: Alex Timmermann, IM 1st; Nathan Brown, IM 2nd; Blake Gibson, free 1st; Daniel Takacs, free 2nd, back 1st; Andrew Timmermann, free 3rd, breast 2nd; Adam Ford, fly 1st; Jordan Gibson, fly 2nd; Nathan Kunz, back 2nd, breast 1st; Jason Bliven, back 3rd

11-12 girls: Kami Moorhead, IM 1st, fly 2nd, breast 2nd; Tori Krumsieg, IM 2nd, free 3rd, fly 3rd; Danielle Kalmer, free 1st, fly 1st, back 1st; Anna Quitmeyer, free 4th, breast 1st; Alexis Strieker, back 3rd; Renee Rivera breast 3rd

13-14 boys: Michael Swift, IM 1st, fly 2nd, back 2nd; Kyle Baer, IM 2nd; Kenny Krumsieg, IM 3rd, fly 3rd, breast 1st; Conward Swift, free 1st, fly 1st; Nick Stason, free 2nd; Nick Takacs, free 3rd, back 1st

13-14 girls: Maria Zagorski, IM 1st, back 1st; Lauren Dowd, free 1st, breast 3rd; Stephanie Saunders, free 2nd, fly 2nd; Sarah Denaro (new team pool record time) butterfly 1st; Lauren Haukapp, fly 2nd, breast 1st; Cristina White, back 2nd, breast 2nd

15-18 boys: Scott Delorme, IM 1st, fly 1st, breast 1st

15-18 girls: Shelby Baer, IM 1st, free 2nd, fly 2nd; Jenny Scheuchner, IM 2nd, back 2nd, breast 4th; Sarah Denaro back 1st; Caitlyn Dunning, free 1st, fly 1st, breast 1st.