EDWARDSVILLE — A dominant pitching performance by three Edwardsville hurlers, who combined for 16 strikeouts — nine by winning pitcher Tyler Lewis — was the story as the Tigers shut out East St. Louis 11-0 in four-and-a-half innings in a Southwestern Conference baseball game Friday afternoon at Tom Pile Field.
Lewis combined with Zach Seavers and Danny Picchiottii for a no-hitter, only allowing five Flyer base runners the entire game, with only one reaching second base, occurring in the opening inning.
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“Yeah, I thought (Lewis) he was good on the mound, and it’s good to see him get out and get some work in,” said Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser, “challenge their hitters and keep our defense active, too.”
The Tigers exploded for a seven-run second inning, where the first seven hitters reached base, all of them scoring before the first out.
“We had some guys put the ball in play,” Funkhouser said, “and be able to move some runners around and create some offense that way.”
Lewis set the tone in the opening inning. After walking Dortavius Boey to start the game, Lewis struck out both Demondre Smith and Rhykeem Samules looking, then after a walk to Royce Mosley, Lewis struck out Pierre Knowles looking to end the inning.
The Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the inning, starting when Dylan Burris singled and stole second and third. He scored on a Joel Quirin groundout, then Reid Hendrickson and Andrew Yancik both reached on outfield errors, Hendrickson scoring on the second error. Will Messer singled home Yancik with the third run of the inning.
The Tigers broke the game open with their seven-run second. It all started when Jack Cooper reached on an error by the third baseman, and advanced to second on a walk to Collin Elberg. Burris singled to load the bases, which led to a two-run single by Kade Burns. Quirin singled home another run, while Hendrickson provided the big blow, a two run double that scored Burns and Quirin. Hendrickson went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball on a Yancik walk. Daniel Reed singled home Yancik with the final run of the inning.
Edwardsville scored their final run in the third, starting with a walk to Ike Bertles, who went to second on a passed ball. He advanced to third on a groundout, and after two walks, scored on a Cole Hampton sacrifice fly to center.
Lewis only allowed two more baserunners in his three innings of work, walking Charles Swarn in the second and Samuels in the third while striking out the side in both innings. Seavers struck out four in the fourth, with DeMario Helm Jr. going to first on a passed ball after a dropped third strike, the only runner allowed by Seavers. Picchotti struck out the side in the fifth to end the game.
That the Tigers were able to win going away was very good after having some close wins to open the season.
“We’ve come away with some close victories,” Funkhouser said. “So today, we were able to score some runs early with that three-run lead and then add to it with more runs in the second. So that was good to get out there and put some runs on the board early.”
And as the calendar turns into April, Funkhouser likes the way his team is developing
“I like the way our guys are going about their business each day,” Funkhouser said. “The players like each other, and they love competing. We’re looking forward to getting into a stretch where we get to play games consistently. We’ve had a couple of games a week, and then some rainouts, and fortunately, we were able to get a couple of game in on Tuesday, so that helped.”
The Tigers meet up with Parkway South of West St. Louis County on Saturday, a team Funkhouser is looking forward to playing.
“We’ll be back at it tomorrow against a good Parkway South club,” Funkhouser said. “They always play great baseball, and hopefully the weather will turn here in the near future, and we’ll get some games in consistently.
“We’re just looking forward to getting better every day,” Funkhouser added with a smile.
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