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SEE EDWARDSVILLE-ALTON GAME VIDEO:
EDWARDSVILLE - It came down to one at-bat.
It was all or nothing for Edwardsville’s Blake Burris with two outs and runners in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning against Alton’s Wesley Laaker trailing 2-1.
On a 3-1 count, Burris laced a sinking line drive up the middle that scored Joe Copeland and Jonathan Yancik to give the Tigers a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Redbirds at Tom Pile Field in Edwardsville on Thursday.
“I feel pretty good about it. I’m glad our team ended up with the W,” Burris said. I was nervous at first, but when I got ahead in the count, then I got a lot more relieved.”
Burris went 2-for-4 with the game-winning two-run single. He now has a 458. batting average. Super Sophomore Drake Wescott went 1-for-1 with a triple and then was intentionally walked two times after. He is now batting 609. with 14 hits and nine RBI in 23 at-bats.
“Our guys continued to compete throughout, and you put the ball in play good things will happen,” Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser said. “We put ourselves in a chance at the end and kinda snuck away with two [runs]. We’re pretty fortunate to be where we are [based on] the way we’ve played so far.”
It was a pitcher's duel between Yancik and Laaker through three innings until Brandon Droste lined an RBI single that scored Riley Taul. Chase Gockel then replaced Yancik.
Yancik struck out four, walked two and gave up two hits.
Gockel proceeded to walk the next two batters and surrendered another run with a bases-loaded walk. However, he would get out of trouble by striking out the next two batters.
Still, the Redbirds led 2-0, and their chances were looking good with the way Laaker was dealing on the mound.
“We had command of the game for over six innings. We just gotta finish,” Alton coach Todd Haug said. “It is what it is. You tip your cap to them.”
Despite taking a tough loss, Laaker had quite a decent outing. The sophomore struck out seven batters, walked four and allowed five hits and three runs. Through four innings he was breezing through, but the Edwardsville lineup started to come alive and cause problems.
“For a sophomore pitcher and sophomore catcher [Owen Stendebeck] the future's bright for those two. Laaker did a good job. It’s amazing how you can throw multiple pitches for strikes you’re going to be in a ballgame. He threw low-to-mid 80’s, but threw three-to-four pitches consistently for strikes.”
The Tigers got limited opportunities for most of the game but got on the board in the top of the fifth on an RBI groundout by Jack Cooper to make it 2-1.
“We had some runners in scoring position that we weren’t able to push them across like we wanted to. You gotta credit [Laaker]. He was really good,” Funkhouser said. “He’s got a good slider and was able to locate it all day. That made it tough on us.”
Gockel kept Edwardsville in it late on. He struck out seven batters, walked five and gave up two hits in 3.2 innings pitched. He ended up earning the win.
Edwardsville improves to 6-2, but despite the record Funkhouser stresses that his team hasn’t played near to their potential. Although he concedes that it’s a positive the Tigers have managed to reel off victories in the process.
“We haven’t played our best baseball, and we’re still able to win some games. Until we adapt we’ll be living on the edge a lot,” Funkhouser said. “It’ll be good for us to adapt and play and get in that competitive mode. I was very impressed that they were able to continue to compete even though they didn’t have their best stuff.”
Alton is now 4-2 and had a three-game winning streak end. The Redbirds travel to MICDS and take on Chaminade for a game scheduled Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Next up for Edwardsville is the Hillsboro Hawks at Busch Stadium 4:30 p.m. this Saturday afternoon.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
