EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville baseball player Jack Cooper is one of the Tigers’ most important players as preparations for the 2019 baseball season continue towards the season opener next weekend.
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Cooper, a senior infielder, returns to an Edwardsville team that looks to be strong once again. As a junior, he hit .336 with four homers and 28 RBIs, but had a great on-base percentage of .534, with 11 doubles to his credit.
“Yeah, we’re excited to get the season going,” Cooper said in a recent interview, “and I can see a lot of promise, and I think we can do things this year, and I know that every guy out here is ready to get going.”
Cooper will be the type of player that head coach Tim Funkhouser can depend on to do what it takes to help the team win.
“Personally, I think whatever I can do to help the team is what I’m going to try to do,” Cooper said. “But for the team, we’ve got a lot of talent, and I think we can do some really good things this year and win a lot of baseball games.”
Cooper brings a team-oriented approach to helping the Tigers in whatever he can do.
“I feel like I’m willing to do whatever, I’m able to do whatever,” Cooper said, “whatever coach Funkhouser needs me to do. So I feel just being versatile like that, can help out the ball club in different ways.”
And once again, the Tigers will play one of the area’s toughest schedules, featuring some of the best teams on both sides of the Mississippi River. Cooper feels that playing against the best competition available will help the team down the road.
“I know, personally, playing against the best competition in the state, even in Missouri, if we can,” Cooper said, “really test yourself and see what your team, and what personally your made of, and it really prepares you for a long postseason run.”
And Cooper is looking forward to the challenge of doing whatever he can to contribute to another successful baseball season for the Tigers.
“Yeah, exactly,” Cooper said. “I’m happy with the way things are looking right now in preseason. I think we’ve got a lot of guys who are team-first kind of guys and want to do what they can to help, and with that kind of mentality, I think we can do some good things this year.”
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