EDWARDSVILLE – Hunter Baugh drove in three runs in the first game of a doubleheader, while Calyx Wise struck out nine in a three-inning relief stint as Edwardsville won the first game of a doubleheader over East St. Louis 12-2 Wednesday afternoon at Tom Pile Field.
The double win puts the Tigers at 8-1 in the league and extends their current winning streak to five straight. The most important thing in the evening was how well the Flyers played in the doubleheader, as East Side continues to make strides in rebuilding its program.
“I thought East Side took some good at-bats,” said Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser, “I think it was one of their better swings that they’ve had on balls against us, and they had some guys in the order that you could tell are really getting good work. They were playing the game, they were backing up bases, a lot of things that just continue to improve.
“For us in the conference, that’s our goal, to keep pushing forward,” Funkhouser continued. “We’ve got two more conference games left, and we’re in position to control our own destiny, so we want to make sure we take care of business this weekend in our tournament, which is great prep for us for the rest of the conference, as well as the postseason, and the seeding meeting coming up.
“That’ll be our last time to showcase our skills. So I think I’ve been happy with the way our guys go about their business within practice and pregame. In the first game, we really bust out the bats as much; in the second game, we did better.”
Funkhouser also felt it was great to get outside as well, after the team was cooped up indoors because of steady rain and storms that passed through the area on Monday and Tuesday.
“Well, it was good to get outside and play,” Funkhouser said. “We’ve been inside the last two days, although we’ve been getting good work, and the guys value the reps they get each day. It’s good to get back outside at Tom Pile Field; we didn’t anticipate being able to play on this field today. It just kept getting dried out as the sun came out throughout the day, and sure enough, we were able to get on it for two today. So, it was a good day to play.”
The Tigers took the lead in the opener, starting with a lead-off walk to Mace Karnes, who went to second and third on passed balls, while Zane Maxwell drew a walk with one out, stole second, and a walk to Aiden May loaded the bases. Karnes and Maxwell then executed a double steal, with Karnes scoring and Maxwell going to third to put Edwardsville ahead 1-0. Andrew McCutchen drew a walk, and a sacrifice fly to left by Baugh scored Maxwell to make it 2-0.
Edwardsville expanded its lead in the third, starting when Ty Hunt drew another lead-off walk, went to second when Karnes reached on an error, Grant Peterson grounded in a force play at third, but the third baseman threw the ball away, going for the double play at first, with Karnes going to third, and Peterson going to second. Maxwell doubled both runners home to make it 4-0, and after a walk to May, both runners moved up on a passed ball. McCutchen drove in Maxwell with a single to push the lead to 5-0, and a two-run single by Baugh made it 7-0. After a base hit by Jack Kirgan, a McCutchen groundout scored Baugh, and an RBI double by Hunt scored Kirgan to give the Tigers a 9-0 lead.
East Side got on the board in the top of the sixth, starting when Jayden Hardaway reached on a dropped third strike, went to second on an error when a pickoff throw got away, and Orlando O’Dell drew a one-out walk. Both scored on MonTeal Harper’s double to left to make it 9-2 for Edwardsville.
The Tigers countered with three runs to put the game away, starting with Peterson reaching on an error, and both Nolan Vojak and May drew walks to load the bases. Parker Gill singled home two runs to make the score 11-2, and two outs later, Max McMichaels’ RBI single scored May to give the Tigers a 12-2 win, the game terminated by the 10-run rule.
Baugh led the Tigers with a hit and three RBIs for the Tigers, while Gill, McMichael, and Maxwell all had a hit and two RBIs. McCutchen and Hunt both had a hit and an RBI, and Kirgan also had a hit. Jax Andreas started on the mound and went for three innings to be credited with the win, allowing two hits while walking two and striking out five, and Wise went the last three innings, allowing two unearned runs on one hit, walking one, and fanning nine.
Harper had two hits and two RBIs for the Flyers, while O’Dell had the other hit. Jamon Company, Jr. threw five innings on the mound and was charged with the loss, allowing nine runs, six earned, on four hits, walking nine, and striking out six. O’Dell pitched the final 0.2 innings, giving up three runs, one earned, on two hits, walking two, and striking out none.
