EDWARDSVILLE – The Edwardsville under-17 baseball team scored 10 runs in the first inning, and never looked back in taking a 16-6 win over the Rawlings Xtreme under-17 club from St. Louis in a game played Tuesday night at Tom Pile Field.
The Tigers scored their 10 runs on only four hits, taking advantage of seven walks in the inning in going on to the win.
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“Our hitters have been taking good batting practice lately,” said Edwardsville under-17 coach Craig Ohlau, “and we get plenty of reps every day in practice, and they’ve built up a big database of repetitions throughout the season. It’s the second game of the doubleheader, so we got to see some pitches that first game against Belleville East, and we put together some good at-bats this game, and a 10-run spot in the first inning really gives you a good cushion to relax and just play the game the rest of the way.”
The Tigers did run into some trouble in the third when the Xtreme scored five times to cut into the lead, but Edwardsville bounced back well, not allowing another run the rest of the way.
“Well, a couple of our pitchers kind of lost sight of the zone there in those middle innings,” Ohlau said. “We just gotta keep our heads, and make pitches, not let external factors get to us, and just play the game, and we’ll be OK.”
The Tigers have played well throughout the season, and Ohlau really likes the growth of the team as things have gone along.
“The summer’s all about growth,” Ohlau said, “it’s about giving guys an opportunity to improve themselves. And I think a few guys have really stepped up, and it’s a lot of fun seeing some these younger guys be put in more in a more pressurized situation when it comes to playing with some of the older guys.”
Another goal is for the players to have fun, and playing well is a key to that.
“When you win, and when you make plays and get key hits like we did today, it’s a lot more fun than it is when you’re not doing that,” Ohlau said.
The first seven batters reached for the Tigers in the home half of the first, starting with a lead-off single from Ryan Kulasekara and a walk to Grant Coffey. Jacob Kitchen then singled home Kulasekara with the game’s opening run, and when Kitchen drew a throw to second, Coffey scored on the play to make it 2-0. Paul Kampwerth then walked to load the bases, with Quinn Weber, Zak Zoelzer and Austin Segrest all drawing walks to force home three runs to make it 5-0. Luke Wright was then brought in to replace starter Jeff Fearnley, and Wright struck out Nick Logan for the first out. A walk to Conrad Heppler forced home another run before Adam Powell cleared the bases with a three-run double to the fence in left-center to make the score 9-0. A walk to Kulasekara and an RBI single by Coffey made it 10-0 before a ground out and strikeout ended the inning.
The Xtreme got a run back in the top of the second, starting when Logan Van Siever was hit by a pitch, and two outs later, a walk to Cameron Hill and a Fearnley RBI single cut the lead to 10-1. The Tigers added on four more runs in the home half of the second, as Weber led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a Zoelzer single, and scored on Segrest’s RBI single, Zoelzer taking third. Segrest then stole second, and went to third on an error, scoring Zoelzer, scoring on Heppler’s RBI triple. Heppler later scored on a wild pitch to make it 14-1, with the inning ending on two strikeouts.
The Xtreme scored five runs in the top of the third, starting with one-out walks to Parker Smith and Wright. Smith went to third on an error, Wright stole second, and Smith scored on Van Siever’s RBI single one out later. Wright then scored on a passed ball, Joe Marcinkiwicz drew a walk, and a Nick Panagos RBI single scored Van Siever, with Marcinkiwicz scoring on a throw to second after Panagos advanced on the initial throw to the plate. Panagos took third on a passed ball, and an RBI single by Hill drove in Panagos with the fifth run of the frame, making it 14-6. A strikeout ended the inning.
The Tigers got one of the runs back in the home half, starting when Kitchen was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, and later stole third. One out later, a Weber RBI single scored Kitchen to make it 15-6. The Xtreme threatened in the fourth, loading the bases before a nifty double play from Coffey at short ended the inning. In the home half of the fifth, Coffey led off by reaching on an error, Kitchen was again hit by a pitch, and Kampwerth reached on another error. After a strikeout, Zoelzer hit a sacrifice fly to center, with Coffey racing home to score the run which ended the game, due to the 10-run rule.
In a curtain-raiser game earlier, the Tigers got a base hit in the bottom of the seventh from Segrest as Edwardsville rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Belleville East 5-4. The Tigers scored four times in the seventh to gain the win.
The Tigers will be competing in an important tournament this weekend at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal, and Ohlau is hoping for more growth from his team.
“Just more growth,” Ohlau said. “We’re going to play some good competition this weekend in Bloomington, and anytime you get against better competition, it’s always fun seeing how our guys compete against pitchers throwing high-80s, the mid-80s, compared to the high 70s we saw today. Just seeing guys in those higher pressure situations, in closer games.”
Which can only help the Tigers as things go along.
“Yeah, that’s how you grow,” Ohlau said. “Put yourself out there, and the higher the pressure, the higher the pleasure when you succeed.”
Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
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