Suffice it to say, Edwardsville's baseball team had a good day Tuesday.
The Tigers played twice and won both times, defeating Chicago-area school Glenbrook South with three runs in the third and four in the fourth on their way to an 8-2 win, then took on East St. Louis in their Southwestern Conference opener and downed the Flyers 19-1 in four-and-a-half innings. Both contests were played at Tom Pile Field.
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The Titans featured a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, Fitz Stadler, who has committed to Arizona State next season but has also attracted the attention of numerous Major League scouts, much like Alton pitcher Bryan Hudson.
“We had to fight off some of the things he was throwing at us, but we got some good at-bats on him,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “Getting some runs off of him was really good. He's a very similar pitcher to Hudson.”
Stadler gave up seven runs (five of them earned) and seven hits, walked three and struck out three.
Despite that, it took a bit for the Tigers to get to Stadler. It came in the third, when Mitchell Krebs and Collin Clayton reached base, then with two out and a run home on a wild pitch, Fahd Shakeel delivered a double that brought home two more runs and put the Tigers up 3-0.
The Titans scored in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1, but the Tigers responded with four more tallies, starting with a Joe Wallace single. One out later, a wild pitch and groundout put Cole Cimarolli, running for Wallace, on third; he scored on a wild pitch, and a series of errors and hits brought home three more runs to make it 7-1 in Edwardsville's favor. Glenbrook and Edwardsville traded runs in the late innings for the final score.
Jackson got the win for the Tigers, working five innings and giving up a run and six hits while fanning two. Tyler Hosto worked an inning and a third and gave up a run and and three walks while fanning two; Chris Robinson finished up the game, fanning one and giving up a hit.
Shakeel led the way with a double and two RBIs and had a couple of sparkling catches in the outfield; Jake Garella and Dylan Burris each had doubles, Clayton had two hits and Krebs, Jackson and Matt Zielonko each had hits.
In the second game against the Flyers, Edwardsville scored in every inning, putting up eight in the second and five in the fourth on their way to the win.
Burris was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a double and a triple; Cole Hansel was 3-for-5 with double and a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs; Joel Quirin was 3-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and a RBI; Tyler Stamer was 3-for-3 with three runs scored, a double and a RBI; Bailey Zimmer was 1-for-1 with a walk, a double and two runs scored; and Anthony Kindle 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
“Having this much depth is a good situation for us,” Funkhouser said. “The important thing for us, though, is to just keep getting better every day.”
The Tigers, 8-0 overall and 1-0 in the SWC, travel to Gordon Moore Park in Alton for a league clash against the Redbirds at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The Redbirds are expected to start Hudson in an early showdown against the Tigers.
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