First Pitch Thrown by Northwest's Brian Boehringer

The top college baseball players from the St. Louis area gathered for the St. Louis Metro Collegiate All-Star Game on Tuesday at the Ballwin Athletic Association.

The game is a chance for some of the area’s best players to have some fun toward of the end of their lengthy and hot summer baseball season. Along with coaches and scouts, local baseball celebrities often show up. This year featured former major league pitcher Brian Boehringer, who was a star player at Northwest High School before moving on to play professionally for several seasons.

Boehringer, who played for five different major-leaguer teams, threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.

Lonnie Maclin, who played one season for the Cardinals (1993), was also on the scene engaging different players and coaches in conversation. Maclin is from Clayton and a graduate of Ritenour.

As for the game, the North All-Stars jumped to an early 2-0 first-inning lead, which they held until the eighth inning, when the South finally grabbed the lead at 7-5.

Clayton Comets player Kyle Grieshaber, a University of Louisville sophomore who attended Marquette High School, hit an RBI single in the first inning to score the North’s first run. Grieshaber, 2009 Marquette graduate, was a three-time all-state selection for the Mustangs and coach John Meyer.

In the fourth, the North’s Ryan Abernathy hit a single and Brandon Alexander followed with a long sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 4-0. But South outfielder Taylor Holman, who plays for the Wildwood Dodgers, singled and teammate Joe Winckel doubled to bring the South to within two, 4-2.

Abernathy, a 2010 Marquette graduate, was a second team all-state player for the Mustangs. Alexander, meanwhile, is a 2009 graduate of Oakville where he hit .392 as a senior with 35 RBI.

Holman, a graduate of Fort Zumwalt West, is playing baseball at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Drew Stanton, who plays for the St. Charles Mules, doubled and scored in the fifth to make it 5-2, but the South added a run in the sixth with a Jake Brower RBI single. In the seventh, Steven Kohler (Wildwood) and Max Byers (Kirkwood) had back-to-back doubles to make it a one-run game.

Stanton is an Oakville graduate, where he was twice named to the baseball all-conference first team. Brower plays for the Kirkwood Kats and is a 2009 Timberland graduate. He hit .373 as a senior for the Wolves and now plays baseball at Missouri S&T.

Wildwood’s Ryan Hall, a Johnson County Community College junior who went to Eureka High School, had the RBI single that scored the go-ahead run for the South.

North coach Scott Turmail switched pitchers in the eighth with the bases loaded and no outs.

“I loaded up my lineup with pitchers,” he said. “I anticipated something like this.”

He also said he allowed every pitcher to face at least a few batters. “They all deserve to get in,” he said. Turmail is a 2005 graduate of Hazelwood Central, where he was a two-time all-state baseball player and one its all-time best pitchers.

South assistant coach Scott Goodrich said Hall is a solid player. Ryan got the player of the game award for his eighth-inning clutch hit.

Goodrich said the summer season can be a grind, and this game is a good experience for some talented players to have some fun together.