Jonathon Yancik Throws Great Game, Three-Run Fourth Gives Tigers 7-1 Win Over Panthers
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EDWARDSVILLE – Jonathon Yancik gave up three hits and one run in the first inning, then went on to retire 12 straight while Edwardsville broke the game open with a three-run fourth inning, going on to a 7-1 win over Jersey on Friday afternoon at Tom Pile Field.
Yancik allowed only one baserunner after the first inning, striking out three in getting the win for the Tigers.
“He was really good,” said Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser. “His two-seamer really moves, and he’s able to throw his breaking pitch and locate his fastball in and up and down, and he’s just a great competitor. It’s fun to see him go out there and pitch. He missed a good portion of the season, probably three-and-a-half to four weeks with some sickness, and he’s bounced back really well, and it’s good to see him go out there and deal.”
The Tigers had another big inning, coming up with the three runs as Edwardsville batted around in breaking open the game.
“The guys got some good hits,” Funkhouser said. “We had (Max) Ringering had a good at-bat, and stroke that double there, and throughout the game, I thought (Joe) Copeland had great at-bats, and Drake (Westcott) got a couple of hits, and we had guys throughout the order pitch in. So, it was one of those things where some guys made different adjustments, I thought (Josh) Ohl did a good job in that first inning just being able to take it the other way, and (Dalton) Wallace hammered that ball into the wind for his triple. That’s pretty impressive; this is a tough triples park, and the way the wind was blowing in a little bit early in the game, it was putting a real nice swing on it.”
The pitching depth of Edwardsville is beginning to show, and Yancik received much credit for his performance.
“Yeah, Jonathon’s outstanding, and he deserves everything he gets,” Funkhouser said, “he works hard every day, and the guys love being around him, and he was sick for, gosh, three-and-a-half, four weeks. So for him to bounce back the way he has has been outstanding, so it was fun to watch him deal.”
And when the postseason starts in the next week, the pitching depth will be a very good problem to have.
“It’s a good thing, and a lot of times, when we face a team that’s got a lot of pitching depth, the thing I always say is that they can only throw one at a time,” Funkhouser said, “but the beauty about it is, you’ve got a lot of different options, and that’ll continue to play out, and hopefully, it’ll play out in the postseason, too. So the good thing is that those guys prepare each day, and expect themselves to do well, so it’s not really a surprise to us or them, and then they just go out and adapt, and they’ve done a great job of competing. And that’s a big difference of being able to have some things, but being able to put it together and put it in action.”
Panther head coach Darren Perdun agreed that Yancik did a great job of keeping his team off-balance all day.
“Their pitcher did a nice job of throwing strikes and keeping us off-balance,” Perdun said. “We’re struggling with the bats; we have been pretty much all year, that’s pretty much been our Achilles. It didn’t change today, unfortunately, for us. Offensively, we couldn’t get much going, and again, their pitcher did a nice job. Defensively, I thought we played a pretty good game, but in there, once we got past the third inning, we couldn’t throw strikes, and when you can’t throw strikes against a good hitting team, that’s a recipe for disaster. Our Achilles today was our hitting, or lack thereof, and couldn’t throw strikes.”
Perdun believes that if his pitchers do throw strikes, his defense will take care of the rest.
“Hopefully,” Perdun said. “We talked about that after the game. I think we’ve got to take our bullpens a little more serious and be ready in games to throw when we’re ready to throw, so you’ve got to be aggressive as a pitcher; don’t be passive. Because if you’re passive, and get behind, and you make good hitters great hitters. And Edwardsville’s got a whole slew of hitter guys over there that can hit really well. So, you get behind, you just ask for trouble.”
Perdun would rather see a hitter hit the ball rather than draw a walk, as he feels that the percentages favor the pitcher when the ball’s put in play.
“Absolutely,” Perdun said. “The percentages are with the pitcher if a guy hits the ball, I mean, 67 percent of the time or hit at somebody, I mean, that’s baseball. So if you make them hit your way around the bases, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win. And if you balk a guy here or there, and then, they hit on top of it, they’re going to score runs.”
The Panthers competed well throughout and enjoys playing against a program like Edwardsville.
“You know, it was,” Perdun said, “but we’d like to compete better than what we did, obviously. Edwardsville’s a great program, always has been, and that’s why we have them on our schedule, just so to see if we can compete with one of the best, if not the best in the Metro. So we’ll continue to keep them on our schedule, and continue to play them, continue to work to try to compete with them.”
Jersey did jump out on top in the first inning, starting with a pop single by Zeke Waltz. Two outs later, Ethan Snider singled, and Quinn Snider doubled home Waltz with the game’s first run, Ethan Snider going to third. Ronnie Guilander was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Tucker Shalley grounded out to end the inning.
The Tigers went ahead in the second, as Ohl singled with one out, then Wallace tripled to nearly the deepest part of the park in center, scoring Ohl to tie the game. Aaron Young then walked, and Logan Cromer lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Wallace, who beat the relay throw to the plate to score and give Edwardsville a 2-1 lead. The Tigers extended their lead to 3-1 in the third, starting with a one-out double by Westcott down the right field line, and scoring on Ringering’s single. Ringering stole second and Copeland drew a walk, but Ohl lined into a double play to end the inning.
Edwardsville broke it open in the fourth, with Blake Rudolph relieving starter Jeremy Vanost. Wallace singled to start the frame and went to second on a fly out by Young. One out later, Hayden Moore single Wallace to third, Blake Burris walked to load the bases, and Westcott was hit by a pitch to force home Wallace. Ringering doubled home two runs to make it 6-1, with Westcott stopping at third, and Copeland drew a walk to reload the bases. Luke Wagner was brought in to pitch, and he got Ohl to fly to left to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Yancik kept Jersey at bay, at one point retiring 12 batters in a row, getting some help in the fourth when Moore dove across to spear a Shalley fly ball. Waltz reached on an error with two out in the fifth to end the streak, but Yancik got the ground out to end the inning.
The Tigers scored their final run in the sixth, starting with a one-out walk to Burris, who stole second and went to third on an infield single by Westcott, but Gavin Huebner, running for Westcott, was caught stealing second on a double steal attempt. Burris did score on the play, and in the seventh, Guilander drew a walk from Zac Crutchfield in relief of Yancik, took second on a wild pitch, and went to third on a ground out. Crutchfield then got two fly outs to end the game with the 7-1 final.
The Tigers improve to 26-4 and have a busy week ahead, with a home-and-home set against O’Fallon Tuesday and Thursday, then traveling to Triad next Friday and hosting Springfield May 18 before concluding the regular season May 20 against Waterloo at GCS Ballpark in Sauget. Funkhouser is looking ahead to the final games heading into the postseason.
“It’s how we like it,” Funkhouser said. “We had some two games a week for a little bit early, and we didn’t pull some of those games and try to move them up, and we do that for that reason of trying to get our hitters some timing, and we have enough pitchers that everybody’s going to be begging for some innings, anyway,” Funkhouser said with a laugh. “But hopefully set up our arms for the postseason as well as try to clinch a conference title ourselves. And then, let it ride from there. So we’ll continue to get our daily work in all facets of the game, and get our pregame in, and go out and let it compete, and go from there. Just a good week, and I really like how our guys are approaching the game.”
The Panthers fall to 11-16, and also have a busy final week, playing at Civic Memorial in a 4:15 p.m. start on Monday, then hosting Alton on Wednesday, then finishing up at Granite City on Thursday and Collinsville May 17. Perdun feels that his club has done some good things this season, but also knows that if everyone keeps going in the right way, good things will happen.
“Well, we’ve had some moments of greatness, and we’ve had some moments of not-so-greatness,” Perdun said, “so if we can get everybody going in the right direction, we can be a tough draw. But you know, right now, it just seems like we’re kind of struggling, so if we can get past this, and get some offense going, and continue pitching well, better than we did tonight, we’ll be a tough draw for anyone.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story
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