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EDWARDSVILLE – In a tight and taut pitcher’s dual, Belleville West scored the game’s only run in the sixth inning as Joey Kossina pitched a no-hitter in the Maroons’ 1-0 win over the Tigers Wednesday afternoon at Tom Pile Field.
It was a game that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed due to massive rain and thunderstorms that passed through the St. Louis area.
Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser was very quick to tip his cap to Kossina following the game.
“He was outstanding, and boy, you really credit him," Funkhouser said. "Every time you’re facing a Kossina, you know you’re going to be in for a heck of a battle, and they’re always great competitors, and he did outstanding for them. We knew going into the game that he was really tough to hit against, and he made pitches when he needed to, and made it really difficult on us, and we couldn’t get what we wanted done against him today.”
Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyer himself pitched a great game, allowing just the one run on only three hits while striking out four. But the Tigers couldn’t execute offensively, and failed to take advantage of opportunities.
“He did,” Funkhouser said. “He really pitched well enough to win the game, and we just didn’t get him the run support. Really, just lack of execution. We had runners on base, and we didn’t execute. We had one inning where we gave them three outs on a failed bunt attempt, and turned it into a double play with a baserunning gaffe, and then, we gave them another out within that inning too, missing a sign. So those things we look at internally, but yeah, we’re going to tip our cap to (Kossina). Coached team has been no-hit twice, and I saw the other guy this week,” Funkhouser said with a smile and laugh, “so this hasn’t been a good week of seeing the no-hitter guys, but, no, we’ve gotta bounce back tomorrow to win the conference, to try to be a top-four seed. We need to get out there, and get back in our cleats tomorrow, and dig in and see what we’re made of.”
Kossina himself led off the game with a single, and was caught stealing second when Will Lanxon struck out. Colin Shea then singled, but was forced at second to end the Maroons’ first. Hayden Moore then led off the home half by reaching on an error, but was caught stealing on a pickoff throw by Kossina, with Moore being thrown out at second to keep the game scoreless after one.
Edwardsville had a big chance to take the lead in the third when Gavin Huebner reached on an error, the second of four committed by West on the day, with Logan Cromer being walked. On a sacrifice bunt attempt, Moore popped the ball into the air, where It was caught by the catcher, who’s throw to second doubled off Huebner. Cromer was then caught stealing to end the inning.
The Maroons had a chance in the fifth, starting with a leadoff single by Logan Weaver, who was sacrificed to second by Kel’i Price, then went to third on a Ben Stedman grounder to third. Kossina flew to center to end the inning.
Meanwhile Kossina was moving along in the Edwardsville lineup, getting a double play in the fourth and retiring the side in order in the fifth. Boyer was pitching well also, at one point retiring six in a row before conceding a two-out walk in the fourth inning, while getting good defense behind him.
The Maroons finally broke through in the sixth, starting with one out. Shea and J.B. Bierman drew back-to-back walks, then Connor Adams was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Alex Bernard then struck out, but the pitch on strike three got away, which allowed Shea to score and the other runners to advance on the wild pitch to give the Maroons a 1-0 lead. Weaver struck out to end the inning.
Huebner reached on an error in the bottom of the sixth, and was sacrificed to second by Cromer, but Kossina got a strikeout and ground out to end the inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Kossina gave up a two-out walk to Joe Toscano to give the Tigers one final chance, but Kossina struck out Weston Slemmer to end the game and give Kossina the no-hitter.
Boyer pitched a great game as well, striking out six in giving up the three hits along the way.
West improves to 17-4 overall, 5-2 in the conference, while Edwardsville is now 19-4, 6-1 in the SWC. Both teams will play again on Thursday at West, and it shapes up to be the biggest conference game of the year, with the winner all but clinching the league title. The Tigers did get in a couple of very good practice sessions in, and Funkhouser thinks that they’ll be ready to go on Thursday.
“Yeah, yeah, and hopefully, the weather plays out,” Funkhouser said, “and we’ll be back. And if not, we’ve had a couple of good days of practice. We practiced really well on Monday, and bounced back inside after the game got canceled yesterday, and we got good work in. We didn’t execute well today, but the guys are working, and we keep doing those things, good things will happen, and that’ll be the goal, to bounce back and just execute better.”
But the day belonged to Kossina, and Funkhouser once again tipped his cap to the Maroons’ pitcher.
“I just want to credit (Kossina) for the competitor he is,” Funkhouser said, “and the stuff he brings to the table, and he was outstanding today.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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