EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's hitting wasn't the best Saturday, but the Tiger pitching made up for it as the Tigers split a pair of games in the Tiger Classic round-robin tournament at Tom Pile Field, Edwardsville dropping a 2-0 decision to Chatham Glenwood Saturday morning but bouncing back to defeat Highland 2-1 in their finale Saturday afternoon.
Coupled with their 3-1 win over Lockport Township Friday night, the Tigers finished the tournament with a 2-1 mark to go to 19-5 on the year; the Bulldogs also finished the tournament at 2-1 with a Friday win over the Titans and by defeating the Porters 11-2 in their opening game Saturday. Lockport defeated Chatham 11-6 in their final game of the tournament as both teams finished 1-2 for the weekend.
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“It wasn't an offensive day for us,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser, “but fortunately we had good pitching throughout the day. We weren't able to get the first one over a good Chatham team, but we bounced back against Highland, who had been undefeated in our tournament and have had a good season as well. I thought that showed some fortitude.
“Dan Picchiotti was really good for us (on the mound against the Bulldogs); he's a guy that got sporadic innings and he's just a mature guy who loves competing. Boy, he showed a lot on the mound.”
Picchiotti went six innings on the mound against Highland, giving up a run on two hits while striking out seven. “He was awesome and he hadn't been extended to that standpoint,” Funkhouser said. “He was very efficient with his pitches and kept making pitches; he wasn't as sharp at the end there and had a lefty (Connor Pinsker) up there; sure enough, it was his last guy to throw to and he got him out.:
Reid Hendrickson finished up the game against Highland. “Reid was able to close it out there at the end,” Funkhouser said. “We have a lot of guys who like playing and like competing; offensively, we had a tough week. The week before, we were scoring a plethora of runs and this week, we had a hard time scratching out runs and hits. It put more pressure on themselves because they want to do well, which is a good thing that they want to do well. We're just learning how to make adjustments within games and get into the groove with our swing and go out there and try to put more runs on the board.”
In Saturday's opener against the Titans, Chase Goeckel started and threw the first two innings, retiring the side both times, before giving way to Issac Garrett in the third, who gave up the Titans' first hit and walked a man in the fourth but shutting down the Titans both times. Reid Detmers got the first Chatham run in the fifth when he reached on an error and went to second on another error before being sacrificed to third; Graham Bender then grounded to short and was thrown out, but Detmers scored to put the Titans ahead.
On the other hand, Gavin Wahlbrink retired the first 13 Tigers he faced in a row before giving up back-to-back singles to Will Messer and Andrew Yancik before Jack Cooper reached on a botched fielder's choice to load the bases; undaunted, Wahlbrink struck out Dalton Wallace and Picchiotti to keep the Tigers off the board. In the sixth, Todd Fowler led off with a double and went to third on a Logan Cory single; Fowler scored when Jake Ryan lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center to bring in Fowler.
Kyle Werries then took over on the mound and and kept EHS off the board, striking out the side in the seventh for the win.
Against the Bulldogs, Dylan Burris led off the game with a first-pitch triple off Jake Ramsey, scoring on a double steal with Yancik, who was walked right behind Burris' triple to put runners on the corners; Yancik himself stole third and went home on an error to give the Tigers their two runs. Highland got one of them back in the second when Jacob Willis singled and was sacrificed to second; a grounder to Picchiotti sent Willis to third, with Willis scoring on an error to halve the lead.
Picchiotti then settled into a groove, shutting down the Bulldogs before getting into a bit of a jam in the sixth that saw a walk, stolen base and wild pitch get Brock Troxell to third, but Picchiotti fanned Pinsker to end the inning; Hendrickson then overcame two two-out walks to strike out Colten Knebel to preserve the win.
Funkhouser thought, overall, the tournament was a good one for the Tigers. “When you go into this tournament each year, you're going to face three well-schooled teams,” Funkhouser said. “That's what we got (Friday) night, we got great pitching performances by Issac Garrett and Andrew Yancik again. For the most part, we made some plays in the field.”
Against Chatham, Drake Westcott was 1-for-3, Will Messer 1-for-3 and Yancik 2-for-3; against Highland, Burris went 1-for-3 with the triple and run scored and Westcott was 1-for-2; Yancik had the other run scored. Picchiotti got the win against the Bulldogs, while Garrett took the loss against the Titans.
Edwardsville travels to Alton for a 4:30 p.m. Monday Southwestern Conference game, then to O'Fallon for a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday league game before hosting Belleville East at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Jersey at 4:30 p.m Friday.
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