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ST. LOUIS – Edwardsville's baseball team got off to a great start in their annual Busch Stadium game Saturday evening, the Tigers getting off to a quick lead as they went on to defeat Hillsboro, Mo., 11-1 in six innings to take their record to 8-2 on the season; the Hawks fell to 1-5.

“It's a great event,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser about the game, which took place Saturday following the Cardinals' 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. “Today, we're so thankful the weather worked out (after several days of near-constant showers and storms; the day was sunny and clear with temperatures in the low 40s).”

The game did create many memories for the Tiger players, the chance of playing on a major-league field creating opportunities for memorable moments. “(Cole) Hampton got that triple early on; that'll be a memory he'll have for the rest of his life,” Funkhouser said, “and up and down the lineup, our guys really competed well.”

Even after having taken part in games at the last two incarnations of Busch Stadium, the chance to be a part of games at the home of the Cardinals is still a thrill for Funkhouser. “It's always one of those things you look forward to,” Funkhouser said. “There's a lot that goes into it – our parents, our boosters, the kids – they all do a great job of making this an event; we have to sell the tickets to be able to make this possible; in turn, we also sell the tickets to help pay for a lot of our season.

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“We always say it's a win-win because of the support of the community – we wouldn't be able to do it without them, and the support of the parents, with them organizing it, and obviously the Cardinals have been so good to us over the years and being able to create the event. The kids, being able to look up there and seeing them on the video board and to hear their name being called out by (long-time St. Louis radio personality and Cardinal public-address announcer) John Ulett – he sticks around and does a bang-up job like he's doing a major-league game.

“They do everything first-class; we're just glad we can be a part of it. To get a victory on top of that is icing on the cake.”

EHS got on top in the first thanks to a Hampton two-run triple that scored Drake Westcott and Jack Cooper; three more runs came in the second, thanks mostly to a two-run single from winning pitcher Reid Hendrickson. A bases-loaded walk in the third brought in Collin Elvers to make it 6-1 and four more runs came in for the Tigers in the fourth, helped mostly by walks, and the final run for EHS came in the sixth when Drake Westcott's RBI single drove in Chase Goeckel. Once the game officially ended, the teams were able to play an inning-plus before the time limit was reached.

Hampton was 1-for-4 with the first-inning triple to go with two RBIs on the evening; Blake Burris had two RBIs for EHS, Westcott was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, Hendrickson was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, Joe Copeland went 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored, Jonathan Yancik had a run scored and Goeckel was 1-for-1 with a run scored. Ben Kelam had the only hit of the evening for the Hawks.

Hendrickson got the win for the Tigers, fanning three and conceding an earned run; Dylan Blyzes took the loss for the Hawks, conceding two earned runs on a hit. Next up for the Tigers is a Southwestern Conference game at Belleville West at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday before they travel to East St. Louis for a 4:30 p.m. league game at JJK Center Wednesday before returning home for a 4:30 p.m. Thursday game against Belleville East.

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