If fans attending Tuesday night's game between Edwardsville's summer baseball club and the Quakes baseball club saw some names on the Quakes that seemed a bit familiar, there was a good reason why.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
A good number of Quakes players were on the EHS team that recently completed a 35-2 season.
And the fans were treated to a pretty good game of baseball, the Tigers making a 1-0 lead in the fourth stand up for a good while before the Quakes tied it in the eighth and scored what proved to be the winning run in the ninth to take a 2-1 win in a scheduled nine-inning affair at Tom Pile Field.
“That was a fun game,” said Tiger coach Craig Ohlau, who was running the team for Tim Funkhouser, who was off on vacation. “Both teams pitched well and had some good defensive plays. We competed hard and I was happy about how the game went.
“We had some good at-bats, had some good defensive plays and key outs as the game went on. They've got some good guys on their team and it held us down, but it was a good game overall.”
The fact that members of the current team were facing members of the 2015 team did make for an interesting evening, Ohlau admitted, but once the game started, the focus was on winning. “We wanted to win the game, no doubt,” Ohlau said, “and they did too. They just came out on top tonight. We battled, they battled, and it was a great atmosphere for baseball.”
The pitching on both sides kept the game moving along rather quickly, as well as some sparkling defensive plays on both sides. The Tigers finally broke on top in the fourth when Cole Cimmaroli drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Two outs later, Cole Hansel singled to drive in Cimmaroli and put the Tigers ahead.
Things stayed that way until the top of the eighth when, with Jordan Yenne pitching, Jordan Hovey got a hold of a pitch over the plate and sent it over the fence in right to tie the game. “Jordan just made one mistake, and he knew it,” Ohlau said.
Then, in the top of the ninth, Fahd Shakeel stroked a one-out double and came home when Austin Waugh singled to put the Quakes ahead. Aaron Jackson pitched the bottom of the ninth for the Quakes and, after retiring the first two batters he faced, ran into a bit of trouble when Joel Quirin was hit by a pitch and Hansel walked to put the tying and winning runs on. Jackson, however, got the final out to preserve the win.
Edwardsville will be off this weekend and will return to action at 6 p.m. June 30 when the host the St. Louis Pirates at Tom Pile Field.
