EDWARDSVILLE – There are time in baseball games where teams need to take advantage of situations that come up.
Edwardsville did just that in the bottom of the second in their season-opening game Friday night at Tom Pile Field; the Tigers took advantage of two dropped third strikes and errors to score three runs to take a 3-2 lead over Plainfield South.
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Those runs were what Edwardsville needed, along with a fifth-inning solo homer from freshman Drake Westcott and two doubles from Dylan Burris – including a two-RBI double – to take a 4-2 win over the Cougars in a Prep Baseball Report Metro East Kickoff Classic game.
The win put the Tigers at 1-0 on the year; the Cougars, who defeated Mount Zion earlier in the day, fell to 1-1.
“We struck out a lot more, but our guys kept competing,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “What you want to do is keep putting yourself in a situation and Dylan Burris put a great at-bat together; he fouled off several pitches and really made their pitcher (Konnor Ash) work and was able to lance a ball out there and push a couple (of runs) across.
“That was a big at-bat in the game, then Drake had the home run; that was a big run for us. I thought (Andrew) Frank (who started the game and got the win) was pretty good tonight and I thought (Kade) Burns was really good in relief and (Dan) Picchiotti's been throwing well; he was just barely missing in some different spots. But I thought our guys competed pretty well.”
The Cougars took the lead in the top of the second when Trey Stewart reached on a fielder's choice, then stole second and third before coming home on an error; Antonio Gutierrez subsequently reached third and was chased home on a Jordan Mikel sacrifice fly to center, putting South up 2-0 through an inning and a half.
Edwardsville rallied in the bottom of the second when, with Ash having struck out the first two hitters, fired a third strike to Will Messer, but catcher Justin McGuigan saw the ball get by him, allowing Messer to reach first. Reid Hendrickson then singled Messer over before Messer scored on another dropped third strike that allowed Dalton Wallace to reach first.
Burris then stepped to the plate and worked the count, fouling off several Ash pitches until he found one to his liking and lined a shot for a double to score Hendrickson and Wallace to give EHS the lead.
Things settled down from there, with one Tiger threat being stopped in the fourth before Westcott stepped to the plate with one out in the bottom fo the fifth and stroked an offering over the fence in right-center field to extend the lead to 4-2.
From there, Picchiotti and Burns shut down the Cougars to preserve the win.
Burris was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and the double, with Joel Quirin going 1-for-2, Westcott 1-for-3 with the homer, a RBI and run scored and Andrew Yancik going 1-for-3. Frank, Picchiotti and Burns combined to give up two hits, with Burns fanning four and Frank and Picchiotti striking out two each.
The Tigers take on Joliet Catholic at 11 a.m. today at Tom Pile Field to conclude the showcase, then host Greenville at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and DeSmet at 4:15 p.m. Thursday.
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