EDWARDSVILLE – Tuesday's Southwestern Conference opener between Collinsville and Edwardsville turned into a pretty tight affair.
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Both teams threatened but did not score in the first four innings; the Kahoks even had a chance to score in the fourth, but some alert defense by the Tigers kept Collinsville off the board. Edwardsville managed to push across three runs in the bottom of the fifth, and thanks to some big defensive plays and solid pitching from Jake Garella, Andrew Yancik and Andrew Frank, the Tigers scored a 3-0 win over the Kahoks at Tom Pile Field to go 7-1 overall, 1-0 in the SWC.
“(Cole) Cimarolli had some good adjustments within the inning,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “Cimarolli did it with scoring that ball out to left-center (when Cimarolli stroked a one-out double to get the EHS rally started), and then (Dylan) Burris later to drive in those runs on the ball to right (when Burris drove Cimarolli and Kade Burns home with two-RBI triple, giving Edwardsville the lead); he needed to put the ball in play. He earlier popped one up, then sure enough, he hit it on a line out there – that was a difference-maker.
“It was nice for (Collin) Clayton to follow up with the infield in to hit one through the infield and get us another run (on a RBI single that brought home Burris).”
Getting the win in the league opener was key for what the Tigers hope to accomplish this year, Funkhouser felt. “We want to put ourselves in a position that, in the last week of the season, we're playing for the conference title,” Funkhouser said. “You don't want to start behind the eight-ball, but it's a long conference season (all eight SWC teams play each other home-and-home), and we know we've got a lot of ball ahead of us and a lot of things to get better at, so as long as we're staying true to that approach, just playing each pitch, each game, we'll become better as a team.”
Garella threw the first five innings, striking out six and not giving up a hit until Jordan Reichhardt singled with one out in the fourth inning for the Kahoks. Bailey Reed followed with another single to put runners at first and third, with Reichardt having gotten to third on a wild pitch.
Hayden Juenger reached on a fielder's choice, but hit the ball sharply back to Garella; he elected to try to get reed at the plate; his throw got to catcher Joe Wallace in time, with Wallace applying the tag to keep the Kahoks off the board.
All the runs the Tigers needed came in the third, and first Yancik and then Frank came up with the big pitches and got some key plays to preserve the win. Burris was 1-for-4 with the two RBIs off his fifth-inning triple, with Clayton going 1-for-3 with a RBI; Cole Hansel and Cimarolli were both 1-for-3 with doubles for the Tigers.
The Tigers travel to East St. Louis for a Thursday SWC game, then host Parkway South and Naperville Central in a pair of single games beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.
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