EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's baseball team put in a lot of hard work during the just-completed high school baseball season.
But not only during the season, but over the past several years; this year's senior class can certainly attest to that.
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The work all paid off this year with the Tigers' run to the IHSA Class 4A final in Joliet, where they fell to Crystal Lake South.
For Dylan Burris and Kade Burns, the payoff was especially great as the EHS duo were named to the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 4A All-State team for their efforts that helped get the Tigers to the final.
“It's a great honor,” Burris said of the honor. “We've both been working hard this winter – and really, our whole high school career – to get to this point.
“We had a great run and I couldn't be more happy with my team.”
Burris played center field for the Tigers and led off, hitting .448 for the season with a .506 on-base percentage and .853 slugging percentage, scoring 50 runs on 64 hits with five homers and 35 RBIs; he had 15 doubles and 14 triples on the year as well.
“it's a great honor,” Burns said. “Not a lot of guys made the all-state team, so it's a pretty big deal and I'm very happy about it. Me and Dylan have been working hard since we got into high school, just going about our business every day.
“There's a few guys I recognized on the list from some of the teams we played; those guys were good, so it makes me feel like I'm just as good as them.”
Burns pitched and played the infield for the Tigers, hitting .225 with a .434 on-base percentage and a .360 slugging percentage, scoring 27 runs on 20 hits with 13 RBIs; he had eight doubles and two triples. On the mound, Burns had a 10-2 mark on the year with a 1.77 earned-run average and conceded just one home run on the season in 75 innings pitched and had 12 complete games.
Burns will be heading to Central Missouri next season, while Burris will play at Wabash Valley, but the memories that were made last season will stay with the two for many years to come.
“It's one of those teams that's going to be talked about for a long time,” Burris said. “I don't think these guys are going to get distant any time soon; we're all a well-connected group.”
