EDWARDSVILLE – Getting a chance to hit a walkoff homer in any baseball game is a very special occurrence.
Edwardsville's Jack Cooper did just that last Tuesday afternoon when the Tigers defeated Granite City 4-2 in eight innings at Tom Pile Field.
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“(Warrior pitcher Cade Bartling) threw me a fastball,” Cooper said after his homer. “He threw it middle-in and I tried to put a good swing on it.”
Tuesday's game had several unusual plays happen. “When you make a mistake, you have to keep fighting through it and keep playing the game,” Cooper said. “We did that, so props to Kade (Burns) for keeping his head (after giving up a leadoff homer to Austin Bonvicino); we have to keep grinding through the season.”
Cooper – a sophomore – had never hit a walkoff homer at any level of baseball until Tuesday. “It's a pretty good feeling,” Cooper said. “Their pitchers threw really well today and made pitches when they needed to make them; they kept battling throughout the game.”
The Tigers kept fighting throughout the game to get back in it; they tied it up with two runs in the fifth, leading to Cooper's homer in the eighth. “Good teams have to do that,” Cooper said. “They keep fighting even when things aren't going their way; that's what we did today.”
The Tigers won a pair of games in Metamora Friday over Peoria Notre Dame and Metamora; they will meet Trenton Wesclin on the road at 4:15 p.m. Monday.
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