Tigers Come Up Clutch Late to Punch Ticket to State

EDWARDSVILLE - Drake Westcott was given one too many opportunities at the plate in the sectional-finals against Normal West.

Marist head coach Kevin Sefcik took a chance on him and when Westcott homered to center field in the first inning. That was the last pitch he would see the rest of the night.

"I didn't want him to beat me in the first inning, but we made a little mistake with that, and I said, 'enough of that,' "Sefcik said. "He's a really good player, so we try not to let their best guy beat you."

That meant others had to produce for the Edwardsville Tigers in moments that would matter much more.

In the top of the seventh inning with two outs, Josh Ohl ripped a ground ball into right field scoring Westcott to pull ahead 5-4, and two batters later, Dalton Wallace drove in Ohl to give the Tigers an insurance run.

"I was just making sure that I didn't strike out looking," Ohl said. "I wanted to put the ball in play."

That would be enough to hold off the Red Hawks for a 6-5 in a Class 4A Springfield Super-Sectional victory at Lincoln Land Community College sending Edwardsville to the state semifinals for the second time in three years.

"It means a lot," Edwardsville senior Max Ringering said. "We've been talking about going to state since winter weight, and that was the goal. We had a rough start to the season, had to go back to the drawing board, but now we're here."

Marist ends their season at 26-11.

"That could have been a state championship final game right there," Sefcik said. "It was awesome. Those guys are really tough, but I'm proud of my guys because we were right there at the end. It was just a great effort."

The Red Hawks didn't go quietly after the Tigers took a 6-4 lead in the top of the seventh.

A single by Jason Hodges and back-to-back walks issued by Collin Salter loaded the bases with no outs and the momentum on Marists side. However, Salter bared down and got Ryan Doubek to ground into a 6-4-3 double play which put a severe dent in the Red Hawks rally, despite plating one run making it 6-5.

Jack Brannigan drew a walk to represent the winning run and brought up Justin Janas; an Illinois commit who already swatted four hits in the game. Salter threw a fastball over the plate, and Janas got under the ball and flew out to Hayden Moore for the final out.

"I was speechless when I saw the final out. I jumped," Ohl said. It's just a great moment."

After Westcott hit his ninth home run of the season and third in three at-bats, the rest of the Tigers lineup stood up to the challenge and gave Janas, the starting pitcher for the Red Hawks, problems. Edwardsville put 15 runners on base with nine hits and eight players getting on base.

"All of our guys competed really well. [Janas] was undefeated on the season because he disrupts timing and he's a heck of a competitor. He just kept making pitches and kept battling," Funkhouser said. "Our mantra is to keep taking good at-bats and battling, and you could see that in the seventh inning there. Ohl and Wallace [came] through and guys just wanting to lay it on the line and compete."

A two-run double by Ringering in the top of the third gave Edwardsville a 3-1 lead. Marist would get a run back in the following half inning with an RBI sacrifice fly by Brett Freiburg. In the fourth, Branningan gave Marist a 4-3 lead with a 2-run homer, which saw Edwardsville starting pitcher, Matthew Boyer exit the game. He struck out and walked three batters while giving up six hits and four runs (three earned).

Dawson Taylor threw two shutout innings giving three hits while striking out four batters and walking one for the Tigers. He was living on the edge in the fifth inning with the bases loaded, but on a 2-2 pitch, he struck out Brannigan on a fastball to get out of the jam.

With six outs to go in their season, Ringering blasted a leadoff solo home run on an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence to tie the game in the sixth inning.

"I was preparing fastball away. With two strikes, he left one over the middle of the plate, and I put a good swing on it," Ringering said. "I didn't know it was gone first. I hustled out of the box. Once I saw it go out, it was an unreal feeling."

Ringering went 0-for-4 and struck out three times in the previous game against Normal West, but he was a completely different batter two days later. He went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run, and eventually drew an intentional walk out of respect in the seventh inning.

"I know Max is going to compete and he was ready to compete," Funkhouser said. "I love all our guys. They've been wanting to compete for something like this."

Edwardsville (35-5) will face Hampshire (22-14) who defeated Oak Park-River Forest 4-0, this Friday at 5 p.m. Friday at Route 66 Stadium in Joliet.

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