SAUGET – Edwardsville's final tuneup for the impending IHSA Class 4A baseball playoffs might not have gone the way the Tigers had hoped, but regardless, EHS is ready for the challenge of the postseason.
“Waterloo's a good team; they do a great job,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser following Edwardsville's 4-2 loss to the Bulldogs at GCS Ballpark in Sauget Monday night. “Their guys compete really well and (Erik) Kaiser was able to hit that home run (off Issac Garrett in the second that put Waterloo up 2-0) and get them up; we just didn't get our bats going early on, and that was kind of the game went.
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“We made a couple of plays behind our pitchers, but I thought after the home run, Garrett responded well and Reid Hendrickson pitched pretty well. We're looking forward to coming back and getting after it in the postseason – this helps us kind of sharpen the sword.”
A quick start that the Bulldogs had against the Tigers was “important for us, especially a team like Edwardsville,” said Waterloo coach Mark Vogel. “It gives us a little bit more options, things we can do on the bases; we're not a great offensive team, we're not going to win slugfests, so we've got to get a lead and the pitchers have to do their job. Today, I thought they did a really good job.
“Edwardsville's got a great program; I've got a lot of respect for coach Funkhouser and and their entire coaching staff. It's a great game for us at the end of the year to wrap up the regular season and a good measuring stick for us – we played well today.”
Waterloo got on the board first in the bottom of the third when, following a Quinten Albrecht walk and a Tyson Roedl grounder to third, Kaiser stepped up and sent a 1-0 Garrett offering over the boards in right field to put the Bulldogs ahead; Waterloo picked up another run in the fourth when Hayden Bender doubled with one out and came home on a sharp single to center from Danny Tharp.
The Bulldogs got their final run in the fifth when Quinton Albrecht came around to score on a Tiger miscue, but Edwardsville got one of the runs back in the sixth when Drake Westcott launched a Waterloo pitch over the boards in center for a home run and scored in the top of the seventh when Blake Burris grounded to short, Kade Burns scoring on the play.
Westcott was 1-for-3 on the evening with the homer, RBI and run scored, while Burns went 1-for-2 with a run scored and Will Messer was 1-for-2; Garrett took the loss, going four innings and striking out one, while Hendrickson fanned five in his two innings on the mound.
Edwardsville dropped to 28-7 on the year, while the Bulldogs enter the Class 3A playoffs at 25-8.
The Tigers take on Alton at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in their own IHSA Class 4A regional tournament, with Granite City – 5-3 winners over Quincy in a Monday play-in game – meeting Belleville West at 4 p.m. in the opener; the final is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, with the winner moving into the Bloomington Sectional at Illinois Wesleyan next week; the Edwardsville regional winner meets the O'Fallon regional winner at 4:30 p.m. May 31 in a semifinal game at Collinsville's Woodland Park/Arthur Fletcher Field.
“It's survive and advance,” Funkhouser said. “Our guys love like baseball and they love going about their business each day and trying to get better; I'm looking forward to the challenge.”
