It was all about defense in last Wednesday’s meeting between two of the area’s top teams, Columbia and Red Bud.

The Columbia baseball team (11-3) had an impressive showing with senior Blake Meyer on the mound. Meyer dealt Red Bud (10- 2) their second shutout loss of the year.

The third inning proved to be the winning punch for the Eagles when Bredan DePoy hit a triple to send in fellow senior Reed Greatting to make it 1-0. After a double by Greatting and a triple by DePoy, classmate Cole Mallinckrodt decided to get in on the action with his very own RBI triple. The Eagles would go on to win, 2-0.

With the Eagles defensive game down, CHS has been working to improve on it’s performance at the plate. It’s something they were unable to do on Saturday in the first game of its double header against Althoff (5-7).

“We really couldn’t get our offense going in that first game,” CHS baseball coach Keith Jany said.

The Eagles were shut out by the Crusaders, 1-0, in game No.1. But game No. 2 had the bats heating up for both teams, as the game was tied at 6-6 going into the final inning.

“We got our bats going a bit more in the second game,” Jany said, adding that Brock Johns won the game for the Eagles coming off the bench and driving in the winning run.

The Eagle’s offense heated up a bit more Monday at New Athens, in a 7-1 victory with Austin Floarke on the mound.

“It was good to see us keep adding to it,” Jany said. “Sometimes we tend to sit on a lead.”

With Columbia improving on one of its weaknesses, Jany says he is impressed with DePoy’s performance at the plate, delivering almost every game.

DePoy leads the team with 16 RBIs and 21 hits. Jany says fellow seniors Greatting and Evan Dake are also stepping it up offensively for the Eagles.

The coach says Greatting is hitting the ball hard, even though his stats are not necessarily showing it. The CHS skipper also said that Dake has come around the past few games and is starting to deliver up to his potential, getting three hits and three RBIs against New Athens.

The Eagles faced Freeburg in the team’s first conference match-up of the season Tuesday. Results were not available by press time, but can be found at RepublicTimes.net/Sports.

Jany says the Cahokia Conference’s Mississippi Division is tough this year.

“I don’t see anyone winning the conference outright,” Jany explained, adding that the conference is wide open.

The Eagles then face East Alton-Wood River on Wednesday at home and Breese Central on the road Thursday.