COLLINSVILLE - Senior pitcher Gannon Burns pitched a brilliant game, allowing only a fifth inning solo home run by Chris Thilman while striking out six and facing one batter over the minimum as Edwardsville exploded for nine runs in the sixth to take a 12-1 win over Collinsville in a baseball game played Tuesday at Collinsville's Fletcher Field.

The Tigers took the lead in the second when Riley Iffrig, who had singled to start the inning, scored on a passed ball to make it 1-0. Edwardsville then doubled its lead on a RBI bunt single by Cade Hardy, who made an incredible leaping catch on Sunday at Busch Stadium against Jackson, Mo., scoring Iffrig to make it 2-0. In the fifth, Kayden Jennings drew a walk, stole second and scored on Grant Huebner's single to center to make it 3-0.

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Meanwhile, Burns retired the first 13 batters in a row before giving up the homer to Thilman that made it 3-1. Undaunted, Burns went on to retire the final five consecutive batters, fanning six along the way in throwing the complete game.

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In the sixth, Adam Powell singled home Spencer Stearns and Montrez West to make the score 5-1, then Jacoby Roberson, who also made a big defensive play in left field against Jackson, bunted home Lucas Krebs to make it 6-1. Jennings singled home two more runs, Stearns had a RBI single to left, a bases loaded walk to Andrew Hendrickson, a RBI single by Iffrig and a RBI grounder by Powell completed the scoring to give the Tigers the 12-1 win.

Stearns had three hits and a RBI for Edwardsville, while Iffrig had two hits and a RBI, Powell had a hit and three RBIs, Jennings had a hit and drove in two runs, Huebner, Roberson and Hardy each had a hit and RBI and Hendrickson drove in a run for the Tigers.

Edwardsville extended its season-opening winning streak to 12 games, are now 12-0 for the season, and host the Kahoks in a return match Thursday afternoon at Tom Pile Field, in a 4:30 p.m. start. The Tigers then play twice at Normal Community, going up against Chicago St. Rita Catholic at 1:30 p.m, then meeting the host Ironmen at 4 p.m. before playing a conference series Apr. 19 and 21 against Alton, with the first game at Alton and the return game at home, both starting at 4:30 p.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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