EDWARDSVILLE – The early part of the baseball season is going to be a learning experience for Edwardsville.
The Tigers entered the season with a good number of players who haven't logged many innings at the varsity level, but EHS has gotten off to a good start.
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Edwardsville opened the season with a 4-2 win over Plainfield South at home Friday night, then turned right around and got an outstanding pitching performance from Andrew Yancik, who struck out three in four innings of work as EHS defeated Joliet Catholic 6-2 in a Prep Baseball Report Metro East Kickoff Classic game Saturday morning at Tom Pile Field.
The Tigers improved to 2-0 on the year, while the Hilltoppers fell to 0-3.
“We tell our guys it's a competitive world,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “A lot of these guys haven't logged a ton of varsity innings; we've got a core of five who did last year, but even some of those guys were kind of part-time or had injuries that prevented them from being full-time, so from that standpoint, we'll learn a lot about our club.
“Fortunately, we don't have (Southwestern) conference games right away, so we're able to do different things. It's fun to have different guys who can do different things, but it's a big puzzle you try to put together. I told our guys, 'don't panic if you play two innings the first game – you might be our five-hole hitter the last 20 games'. You never know.”
One thing that could help the Tigers is depth. “Guys are going to have to compete for different spots throughout the whole year,” Funkhouser said. “I think we've got a few guys who can run, we have a few guys who have some pop in their bats, with our pitchers, we have a lot of different guys that can mix-and-match and do different things; I think some will emerge – I would say just overall depth (may help the Tigers).”
Funkhouser thinks EHS can improve on is their at-bats. “We showed that last night – we struck out a ton,” Funkhouser said. “That was an exceptional pitcher (for Plainfield South), but everyone knows if you want to play deep in the postseason, you're going to have to face a few of those guys – not just one guy, but a few of those guys.
“The better we get at taking at-bats, that will be our biggest thing. If we get really good at doing that, we can be a good club.”
Edwardsville didn't waste time getting on the board; Dylan Burris led off the EHS first inning with a walk and went to second on a Kade Burns groundout before stealing third, then coming home on a Joel Quirin single to put Edwardsville up 1-0. The real damage came in the bottom of the second when Dan Picchiotti singled with one out before Connor Ellers reached on an error to put two one and one out. Burris then doubled down the right-field line to bring home Picchiotti.
Burns then stroked a double to the gap in right-center to bring in Elvers and Burris and up the lead to 4-0. Yancik then helped himself in the third when he hit a one-out triple, then scored on a Daniel Reed single to right to push the lead to 5-0. Burris then opened the bottom of the fourth with a double to left before a one-out single by Quirin drove home Burris for a 6-0 Tiger lead.
The Hilltoppers scored twice in the seventh to come closer, but Edwardsville pitching shut them down and gave the win to the Tigers.
Burris was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and three runs scored, while Quirin was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs; Burns had a hit with two RBIs and a double, Will Messer had a hit and RBI, Picchiotti had a hit and a run scored, Reed had a hit and RBI and Yancik had a triple and RBI and Reid Hendrickson had a run scored.
Yancik got the win, with Issac Garrett throwing two innings and gave up an earned run and hit, Hendrickson getting the save in two-thirds of an inning pitched and Chase Gockel throwing a third of an inning, giving up an earned run and walking two.
The Tigers host Greenville at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Tom Pile Field, then host DeSmet at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at home.
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