GRANITE CITY – Kade Burns' pitches were working well for him Tuesday afternoon.
Burns, an Edwardsville senior, had a magnificent game for the Tigers, not allowing a hit for six innings and facing the minimum, walking only two and getting some key double plays behind him, giving up only a hit from Tyler McCauley leading off the bottom of the seventh as EHS defeated Granite City 8-0 in a Southwestern Conference game at Granite City's Babe Champion Field.
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The Tigers went to 26-5 overall, 11-3 in the league; the Warriors fell to 7-23 overall, 4-10 in the SWC.
“He (Burns) was good, and we were able to get three double plays within the game,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “Two of them, (Andrew) Yancik took it himself and stepped on the bag and then (Cole) Hampton had that nice one – (Joel) Quirin did a nice job of rolling it – but he was able to use his defense there and just make pitches.
“He's been good for us all year and he didn't disappoint today; he likes taking the ball. He's getting tuned up for the postseason.”
With Edwardsville's IHSA Class 4A postseason campaign looming, the Tigers are continuing to prepare for the the tournament. “We're continuing the prep and value the at-bats we're getting,” Funkhouser said. “We've been playing a lot lately and continue to sharpen the sword as far as making plays in the field and all those other things.
“I thought we had some good at-bats and we're doing a good job of laying off pitcher pitches, which is something that's big for us.”
“He had his fastball and his curveball working,” Warrior coach Scott Smallie said of Burns. “Every time it seemed like we'd get something going – we'd get a guy on base and we'd ground into a double play and it'd erase that pretty quick. Give him all the credit in the world – his record is what it is right now and he's one of the better pitchers in (the SWC) right now.
“Right now, our focus is on next Monday; we have to go up to Quincy and play in the (opening round of the Edwardsville Regional). We're trying to get pitchers lined up, get people lined up and get going. I truly feel we can make some noise in this regional.”
The Tigers opened quickly as Dylan Burris had a leadoff triple and came home on a two-run Quirin homer over the fence in left-center to put EHS up 2-0. Burns helped himself in the second when he doubled in Dalton Wallace, who had doubled to open the inning, Burns then coming in to score on a Drake Westcott single to extend the lead to 4-0. The Tigers also picked up a solo run in the third, two in the fifth and one in the seventh.
Burris was 2-for-3 with the leadoff triple and a run scored, Will Messer was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, Quirin 1-for-3 with the homer, two RBIs and a run scored, Wallace 2-for-2 with a double and RBI, Burns 1-for-2 with the double and RBI, Blake Burris 1-for-1 with two runs scored and Jack Cooper and Daniel Reed each having a hit and RBI; Ike Bertels scored two runs on the day. Burns got the win, striking out five in six-plus innings; Tyler Wheatley took the loss, striking out two Tigers.
The Tigers return to the field at 4:15 p.m. Friday for a Senior Day doubleheader against Triad before finishing the regular season with a trip to Springfield at 11 a.m. Saturday and a game against Waterloo at 6 p.m. Monday at GCS Ballpark in Sauget; the Warriors finish out at Mascoutah at 4:30 p.m. today and an 11 a.m. Saturday home doubleheader against Chatham Glenwood.
