BELLEVILLE _ Granite City third baseman Greg Baumann struck out three times in four at-bats Thursday afternoon against Belleville West lefthander John Flanagan.

But with Flanagan lifted after nine innings and 114 pitches, Baumann found his hitting stroke against Maroons reliever Mitch Matecki and drilled a two-run, two-out single to centerfield in the top of the 10th as the visiting Warriors defeated West 3-0 in a Southwestern Conference game.

Granite improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference. The Maroons fell to 8-3, 2-1.

"Coming through that was a big hit for him," Warriors coach Daren DePew said of Baumann, who earlier in the game failed to execute a squeeze play. "He played a whale of a third base for us."

Baumann, the No. 5 hitter who entered the game with no runs batted in and a .500 average, drilled a 1-0 pitch from the righthanded throwing Matecki (2-1) with the bases loaded. The single plated Ryan Roberts and Matt Schooley, who had walked and doubled respectively.

Schooley had given Granite the only run it needed with a ringing double in the right-center gap that scored Justin Hubbard, who led off the 10th with a single to left.

Righthander Kyle Adams (2-0) was the winner for the Warriors, while lefthander Justin Arakaki earned his first save of the season striking out the side in the bottom of the 10th.

It was Adams, though, that kept West's bats silent. He allowed only three hits, walked three and fanned three in nine innings and 113 pitches. He had to pitch out of a ninth-inning, two-out, bases-loaded jam which he did successfully getting Tyler Haida to ground into a forceout at second.

"The biggest thing about Kyle, he has the ability, but mentally he's a pretty tough kid. He's pretty sharp. He puts the work. I'm not surprised by what he's doing."

Flanagan, a 6-foot-5 senior, didn't have his best stuff but still managed to get through nine innings unscathed. He gave up seven hits, a walk and a wild pitch with 10 strikeouts. He twice pitched out of trouble in the fourth and the ninth.

In the fourth, Granite put its first two batters _ Bryan Parker and Cole Martinez _ on with singles and both moved up on a wild pitch. But DePew called for the squeeze play and Baumann missed the pitch as courtesy runner Larry Smith, running for Parker, was tagged out by third baseman Jonathon Schweppe.

Then in the ninth, the Warriors had runners on first and third with no outs, but Flanagan needed only 11 pitches to get the next three hitters.

"We got beat by a good pitcher today," said Maroons coach Lee Meyer. "He matched John pitch-for-pitch and they hit the balls that were up and we didn't."

kroberts@post-dispatch.com