EDWARDSVILLE – Freshman Drake Westcott is really making a huge impact for Edwardsville's baseball team this season.
Westcott, who was the designated hitter in the lineup for the Tigers Saturday morning, had a monster-type day, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a two-run homer and six RBIs as the Tigers short-gamed Parkway South 10-0 in five innings at Tom Pile Field to take their record to 8-0 on the year; the Patriots fell to 4-5 on the year with the loss.
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“He's starting to settle in average-wise,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “He had been hitting some balls that got caught up in the wind and some at-em balls; today, he put some great swings on it and broke open the game for us. It's kind of one of those things with our team – we got a lot of guys who are competitive, you've got your nine guys in the order and the other guys ready to go off the bench.
“On any given day, when our guys can impact the club, that's a great sign of a good team – it keeps the guys pressing each day knowing there might be some action for them, and if they do well, it's going to help the team; it's not just one guy carrying the team.”
Westcott has been seeing the ball well, Funkhouser said of his freshman first baseman/designated hitter, who entered Saturday's game 3-of-16 for a .188 average, a .316 on-base percentage and a .375 slugging percentage with a homer and five RBIs. “He sees the ball well at the plate and he was really in rhythm today,” Funkhouser said. “That makes another dimension to our lineup.
“He's played a lot of baseball and he sees the ball extremely well, so the game kind of slows down for him from that standpoint; today, he put his 'A' swing on several balls.”
Senior pitcher Issac Garrett went all five innings to get the win, giving up two hits and striking out five; just one runner got as far as second base on the day. “He's outstanding,” Funkhouser said of Garrett. “Talk about a guy who's even-keel and loves to compete and just makes pitches; that's a pleasure to watch. He fields his position, doesn't get too high or too low – all the things we talk about, the attributes of successful players and successful people, he demonstrates on a daily basis.”
Westcott's first two RBIs came in the first when he doubled in Dylan Burris and Kade Burns, scoring himself when Andrew Yancik reached on an error; in the third, Joel Quirin walked and Westcott connected on an opposite-field homer to left-center for two more runs. One out later, Yancik walked and stole second and third before coming home on a Will Messer single to up the Tiger lead to 6-0.
In the fourth, Burns walked and got to third when a pickoff try went into the outfield; Westcott got his fifth RBI of the day when he grounded out to short, Burns coming home. Reid Hendrickson and Yancik both walked and came around to score on a couple of wild pitches and an error; in the fifth, Dan Picchiotti opened the inning with a single and Burris reached on an error, with Westcott delivering a game-ending double to bring home Picchiotti.
Edwardsville resumes its' Southwestern Conference schedule with a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday trip to Redbird Field to take on Alton, then hosts Belleville West at 4:30 p.m. Thursday before traveling to meet Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin for a 4:30 p.m. Friday contest.
