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GRANITE CITY – Edwardsville came calling to Babe Champion Field in Granite City Thursday for a Southwestern Conference game and had a great day at the plate.
Especially Reid Hendrickson.
Hendrickson had two doubles, two runs scored and five RBIs in a 3-for-4 day for EHS as the Tigers, thanks to an eight-run fifth inning, defeated the Warriors 14-3 in five innings to go to 15-7 overall on the year, 6-3 in the SWC; the Warriors fell to 9-12 overall, 3-6 in the league.
“I thought we swung the bats well,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “Reid Hendrickson drove in a bunch of runs today and really came through with runners in scoring position; Dawson Taylor was really sharp on the mound and made some good pitches consistently throughout the game.
“It was good to see from those guys; Collin Elvers got a couple of hits and I thought we had a lot of good plate appearances throughout the game. It was a very good team effort; that's what it takes each day and we're just trying to build on the consistency of that to be the team we want to be.”
The last time the two teams played each other in Edwardsville, the Tigers and Warriors had a close game that wasn't won for EHS until the late going. “We went toe-to-toe with them last time and snuck away with one late in the game,' Funkhouser said. “For us to bounce back with the victory today was a good sign for our club.”
“That was a typical Edwardsville offense right there,” said GCHS coach Scott Smallie. “We're in the game right there, we get a guy on third and get a tough out at the plate (in the bottom of the first when Freddie Edwards reached third and was thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice from EHS third baseman Jack Cooper) – it changes the momentum a little bit.
“We come back out and shut them out in the second, can't get anything going offensively and in the third inning, we walk three guys and in high school, if you walk three guys, they score most of the time and that just kind of started the onslaught of their hitting. They put the ball in play; they rarely strike out, and when you put the ball in play, you put pressure on kids.
“When you put pressure on kids, they've got to make plays and sometimes they do, sometimes they don't; that's baseball and we're trying to grow and get ready for the (IHSA Class 4A) regionals and try to knock some teams off in the second half and make some noise in the (SWC) our last time through.”
Edwardsville broke on top in the third when, after walks to Chase Goeckel, Joe Copeland and Blake Burris loaded the bases, Hendrickson stroked a double to right to bring in Goeckel and Copeland; Cooper then reached on an error that scored Burris and Hendrickson himself scored on an RBI grounder by Aaron Young to give EHS a 4-0 lead in the middle of the third.
Two more runs came in in the top of the fourth when another Hendrickson double drove home Goeckel to help up the lead to 6-0; the Warriors got a run back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Brennan Haddix RBI single that plated Cameron Hibbets but the Tigers exploded for eight runs in the top of the fifth, highlighted by an Elvers two-RBI ground-rule double and a two-RBI single from Hendrickson that brought in David Grant and Copeland. Wyatt and Jared Engleman came in to pitch in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.
Taylor got the win for EHS, going four innings and fanning one Warrior; Hibbets took the loss, dismissing two Tigers by strikeout on the day. Next up for Edwardsville is a 4:30 p.m. Friday game against Civic Memorial at Tom Pile Field and a SWC game at Alton at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday; the Warriors next meet up with Chatham Glenwood at 4:30 p.m. today on the road before hosting Belleville East at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in a league game.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
