Southwestern, Edwardsville 16 and Under Game Called After 3.5 Innings By Rain With Birds Ahead 2-1
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EDWARDSVILLE – A summer baseball game between Piasa Southwestern’s under-17 team and Edwardsville’s under-16 team was called because of a severe thunderstorm after three-and-a-half innings with the Piasa Birds leading 2-1 on Wednesday evening at the Edwardsville Sports Complex.
Southwestern had just taken the lead in the top of the fourth when the rains came, and after a delay, the game was called by the umpires before the home half of the inning could be played.
Both teams are trying to get back in the swing of things after the layoff between the spring and summer seasons, and the weather hasn’t exactly been cooperative, either
“So far, we’re still trying to find our groove,” said Edwardsville coach Mike Sabatino. “This is really our fourth game back from the spring; the past two days, we’ve been cut short of the weather, so it’s kind of been tough to get us going. The bats have been kind of stagnant, we haven’t been able to really get the live (at-bats) yet. This weekend will be a good test for our 16u, and our 17u, as really, everybody is starting to play again. Once that starts happening, we’ll start to see everybody get back into the swing of things, in the groove. But we have a very deep team, a very good team, we have a lot of pitching, so it’s going to be a fun, exciting summer.”
The Tigers’ team goals are very simple for the 2019 summer season: Get better each day and get the players experience.
“Our goal daily is to get better each day,” Sabatino said. “This is going to be a big summer for most of the kids. They’re going to be able to get stronger, we’re able to fine-tune some of the little skills, and get better and prepare for next year. So, I think just attacking a daily routine is going to be key for us.”
And the stormy and rainy weather that has invaded the St. Louis-area in recent days and weeks hasn’t exactly been helpful, but Sabatino thinks that it’s still too early to tell what, if any, effect the stormy weather will have.
“Right now, it’s kind of tough to tell early on in the year,” Sabatino said, “but as long as we continue to get into a routine, and find ourselves getting our daily work, we’ll be fine.”
It’s still early in the summer season, and while there were many positives on the Southwestern side, there were also some things to be concerned about as well.
“My pitchers threw too many balls, we had too many walks, and we left too many runners on base,” said Piasa Birds’ coach Brian Hanslow. “We were still winning, but we’ve got a lot of things to clean up as well.”
Like Edwardsville, Southwestern is starting to get back in the swing of things following the end of the regular spring season.
“We’re just now starting to get back into the groove after the high school season,” Hanslow said, “so we’ve got to get our guys back into shape after having two weeks off after the spring. We did fine, we got some hits, we had a good hit-and-run by Noah Kelly, and we also had a good basic two-out hit to get another guy home, so we did have some positives.”
The Birds struck first in the opening inning, starting with Issac Marshall drawing a lead-off walk, then he stole second. One out later, a Trever Seets single drove in Marshall with the game’s first run. Seets was singled to second by Brady Salzman, but a fly out to center and a strikeout ended the inning.
The Tigers had a chance to tie the game up in the bottom of the inning, starting with a walk to Adam Powell and a single by Zack Schmidt. A pop fly hit by Spencer Stearns was then dropped by the pitcher, but he recovered to turn a double play, throwing to third to get Powell, and a return throw to second got Schmidt. After a walk to Beau Brandt, a ground out ended the inning.
Edwardsville tied things up in the second, Luke Schaefer drew a walk and stole both second and third, while Marshall fanned the next two batters. Trent Schroeder drew a walk to put runners on the corners, and on a pickoff attempt, the ball got away on the throw, allowing Schaefer to score and Schroeder to go to second. Gannon Burns and Powell drew walks to load the bases, but Schmidt struck out to end the inning.
In the top of the fourth, with one out, John Watts singled and stole second, then Gavin Day drew a walk. Jarrett Dresch then hit into a fielder’s choice, with Day forced at second and Watts going to third, where he scored on an RBI single by Kelly. A ground out ended the inning, and with Edwardsville coming up in the home half of the inning, a very heavy downpour invaded the field, forcing the umpires to call a delay. The game was called after an approximately 20-minute delay, the game not yet being official.
Hanslow knows that his team can step up its game, but he also knows it’s the summer season, and the goal is to get players ready for the 2020 regular season.
“They know that they can do better,” Hanslow said, “but it’s summer, and we’re trying to get everyone in the game and get better for next spring. That’s the idea of the summer season, to get guys better and get them ready for the 2020 season.”
For the Tigers, it’s getting their players ready for the chance to get on the varsity, and the fact that Edwardsville will be playing in the IHSA Class 4A final four this weekend in Joliet. Sabatino has really enjoyed watching the Tiger varsity this season, and he knows that the summer season is a big opportunity for his players to move on up.
“Yes, this is great for us to see what each player has,” Sabatino said, "and for the varsity this week, it’s been fun watching them on a daily basis, getting their work in and really putting the time and effort in, so you’re getting better each day. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story
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