COLUMBIA - Ty Hunt led Edwardsville with two hits and two RBIs, and Calyx Wise struck out three on the mound, but Columbia's Brody Landgraf hit a walk-off three-run homer over the fence in right field to give the Eagles a dramatic 10-9 win over the Tigers in a baseball game played Wednesday at Eagleview Elementary School in Columbia.
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The loss drops the Tigers to 19-10 on the season, but Edwardsville is in position to clinch the Southwestern Conference championship at home on Thursday with a win against Collinsville.
The Eagles struck first in the home half of the first inning, when Landgraf doubled to left, and came in on an RBI single by Owen Worcester to give Columbia an early 1-0 lead. The Eagles threatened to score more and had the bases loaded, but Eli Simmons was called out due to offensive interference on a Collin Augustine base hit, and a groundout to second ended the inning.
Edwardsville tied the game in the second, with Joel Fields reaching on an error, and was doubled to third by Nick Chiarodo. Nathan Bukovac flied out to right, but Fields scored on an error on the play, tying the game at 1-1, with Chiarodo going to third. One out later, an RBI single by Zane Maxwell scored Chiarodo to give the Tigers their first lead of the day, 2-1.
Columbia tied the game right back in the bottom of the inning, with a lead-off single by Xavier Voegele and an Ayden Sepich RBI double scoring Voegele to tie the game 2-2. Two outs later, Worcester's infield single scored Sepich to give the Eagles back the lead at 3-2.
Columbia extended its lead in the third, all with two out. Jack Leitschuh singled, Voegele drew a walk, and Sepich hit a three-run homer over the fence in left field, Leitschuh and Voegele scoring ahead of Sepich to give the Eagles a 6-2 lead. The Eagles made it 7-2 in the fourth, starting with a lead-off walk to Worcester, an Augustine single, and an RBI single by Leitschuh to score Worcester.
The Tigers launched a comeback in the fifth, starting when Maxwell reached on an error, going to third when Andrew McCutchen also reached on another error, and Hunt drew a walk to load the bases. A bases-loaded walk to Jack Kirgan forced home Maxwell to make it 7-3, and Tyson Wampler reached when the right fielder dropped the ball for Columbia's third error of the inning, allowing McCutchen and Hunt to score and Kirgan to go to third, cutting the lead to 7-5. Fields walked, and Kirgan scored on a passed ball to make it 7-6.
Edwardsville went ahead in the sixth, starting with a lead-off walk to Maxwell, with McCutchen singling him to third. McCutchen then stole second, and a two-run single by Hunt scored him and Maxwell to give Edwardsville an 8-7 lead. Kirgan then singled Hunt to second, Wampler walked to load the bases, and Fields singled to center, scoring Hunt to increase the Tiger lead to 9-7.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh, when Sepich led off with a base hit, Cooper Reuss walked, with Sepich going to second, and Landgraf hit his game-winning homer over the right field fence, scoring Sepich and Reuss ahead of him to give the Eagles the 10-9 win.
Hunt led the Tigers with two hits and two RBIs, while Kirgan had two hits and an RBI, McCutchen had a pair of hits, Fields and Maxwell each had a hit and an RBI, and Chiarodo also had a hit. Jax Andreas started on the mound, and went two innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits, walking three and striking out one, Andrew McKey also went two innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits, walking none and fanning one, and Wise went for two-plus innings, and was charged with the loss, allowing three earned runs on four hits, walking three and striking out three.
The Eagles are now 14-12, while the Tigers go to 19-10 and open a four-game homestand Thursday with their Southwestern Conference finale against Collinsville, then meet Jersey on Friday, go up against Rochester on May 20 and finish the final homestand May 22 against Triad, with all games starting at 4:30 p.m.
