EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's baseball team got off to a bit of a rough start in a quickly arranged game Tuesday night against Wheaton North, who was in the area for some games.
The Tigers overcame the rough start, which saw them give up an early run on two errors, to defeat the Falcons 5-1 at Tom Pile Field, taking their mark to 6-0 on the season; the Falcons fell to 0-4 with the loss.
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“We didn't finish off the inning,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser; “and they took advantage of it. They're a good contact club and we were able to respond to that. I thought we had a couple of key hits and added some runs to it. (Andrew) Yancik was really good (on the mound) and (Zach) Seavers, we hit off Seavers the other day and didn't get any good swings. He's got good pitches and was able to utilize those in the last inning.”
Yancik came in for Andrew Frank in the fourth and finished his stint by striking out the side, fanning six Falcons in his three innings of work. “His stuff is good,” Funkhouser said. “His ball really moves and he's getting very consistent with his pitches and his command, and that's a difference-maker. You look at the success that him and (Kade) Burns has had early on in the season, and you put a combination of a guy that really commands and has good stuff, you'll see great success; that's what they're achieving right now.
“Behind the plate, I thought (Collin) Elvers did a great job; he had a great fight-it-off at-bat early on to get a base hit to left, and then sure enough, he blasted that one (in the fourth) to right-center into the wind over the guy's head (for a double) – that was great for him to do that and contribute to our success.”
North's only run came in the first when a couple of miscues left Connor Olson at third, where he came home on a sacrifice fly to left from Jackson Gray; Frank settled down, though, and kept the Falcons at bay with some timely plays on defense; the Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the second when Dan Piccihotti came home on Elvers RBI single before Elvers himself was chased home on a Dylan Burris RBI double to put Edwardsville up 2-1 through two.
It stayed like that until the bottom of the fourth, when Cole Hampton reached on an error and moved to third on the Elvers shot to right-center for a double; both then came home on Burris single to up the lead to 4-1 before Joel Quirin drove Burris in with a double of his own. Yancik came on to the mound in the fourth and proceeded to shut the Falcons down, getting a double play in the fifth to end a potential North threat and striking out the side in the sixth before Seavers retired the side in order in the seventh to end the game.
Burris had a 3-for-4 day at the plate with a double, three RBIs and a run scored for the Tigers, with Elvers going 2-for-2 with two doubles and a RBI, Piccihotti 1-for-3 with a run scored, Quirin 1-for-2 with a double and RBI, Yancik 1-for-3 and Ike Bertles, Josh Ohl and Bertles a run scored each. Yancik got the win for EHS.
Edwardsville is scheduled to play at East St. Louis at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the JJK Center, then take on Parkway South at Tom Pile Field in a single game at 11 a.m. Saturday before visiting Redbird Field in Alton for a 4:30 p.m. league game Tuesday.
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