Tigers boys baseball team ends storybook season with second-place state finish. by Brent Feeney, Sports Writer June :33 PM

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1 Tigers boys baseball team ends storybook season with second-place state finish by Brent Feeney, Sports Writer June :33 PM

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3 JOLIET Edwardsville's run to the IHSA Class 4A baseball championship game was certainly a ride the players, coaches and fans certainly won't forget anytime soon.

4 The run, however, didn't end the way the Tigers would have wanted it to. A pair of two-run homers from Ryan Parquette and Noah Tyrrell in the top of the fifth broke the Tigers' backs and brought their dream of their first state championship since 1998 to an end as Crystal Lake South defeated EHS 8-3 at Joliet's Silver Cross Stadium. The loss ended the Tigers' season at 34-8; the Gators claimed the state title with a record of The loss meant not only the end of the season for the Tigers, but the end of many bonds forged throughout the season and the high school years between the players and coaches. You prepare for everything; you don't prepare for the postgame and whether you win or lose, it just happens, said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. The relationships usually I think about it like, 'man, this could be our last batting practice' and those types of things. We didn't think about it, we just enjoyed the time together, but there's a lot of great relationships. The main reason why I got into coaching was because I wanted to compete and try to put players in positions I happened to be in (as a player on the Tigers in the 1990s) and for them to experience it. It's not about winning championships, although that's the goal, but it's about being in the arena and enjoying that ride and having the relationships that we've built...this group fought the battle. The opportunity to be in the final meant much to Funkhouser and the Tigers. This is what you play for, to be in this arena, Funkhouser said. Crystal Lake South, you've got to credit them; they played a great game and their pitcher (Andrew Engleking) did a really good job. We had troubles with his running fastball; we had talked about it before the game the guys tried to execute the best they can from that standpoint, their pitcher was just really good, coupled with him being able to get his breaking pitch over and just throw strikes. We needed a couple of things to just steamroll in some situations and it didn't happen today; credit them. The Gators got out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, thanks to leadoff singles from Griffin Bright and Parquette off EHS starter Kade Burns; both were brought home by a two-out triple from Tyrrell, who came home himself thanks to a Kory Olsen single. They had a good approach early in the game, Funkhouser said. They made some adjustments and got some runs that way. He (Burns) was able to settle back in and even after the couple of home runs, he was able to make pitches; they put some good swings on some balls that were there for them. We're so proud of Kade Burns because there's no way we get to this point without what he's done during the season, and I'm not even just talking about pitching; he's been dynamite for us in the field he struggled at the beginning of the year and I bet he brought up his batting average 100 points the second half of the season. Edwardsville got back two of those runs in the bottom of the first when Dylan Burris led off with a double and went to third when Joel Quirin reached on an error before coming home on a wild pitch; Quirin himself came home an Andrew Yancik RBI single to get the Tigers back to 3-2. Crystal Lake picked up another run in the third when Brian Fuentes doubled with one out and came home on a Tyrrell single before the Gators reached the fifth; it started when Bright led off with a single and Parquette sent a Burns offering over the wall in left to up the Gator lead to 6-2; one out after the Parquette shot, Nick Wolski drew a walk to bring up Tyrrell, who lifted a pitch to almost the same spot that Parquette's homer went to increase the Gator lead to 8-2. Edwardsville wasn't about to go quietly as freshman Drake Westcott stepped up in the bottom of the fifth and launched a shot down the line in right and struck a sign behind the fence promoting an upcoming Joliet Slammers fireworks show for a home run; it proved to be EHS last gasp as Engleking held off the Tigers the rest of the way.

5 Futurewise, he s got a bright future, Funkhouser said of his freshman first baseman. He s a great hitter; he put a good swing on a ball and it s not surprising to us we ve seen it a bunch. There s a lot of good things to come for him. Westbrook went 2-for-4 with the homer, a run scored and a RBI for EHS; Burris was 1-for-4 with a double and run scored, Dalton Wallace 1-for-3, Yancik 1-for-3 with a RBI and Quirin a run scored. Tyrrell was 3-for-4 with the homer and a triple with five RBIs and two runs scored, with Parquette 3-for-4 with the homer, two RBIs and two runs scored, Fuentes 1-for-4 with a double and RBI, Bright 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Kory Olsen 2-for-4. Burns went five-plus innings for EHS, striking out six and walking two while conceding eight runs (all earned) on nine hits; Andrew Frank took over in the sixth and gave up two hits while dismissing one by strikeout; Engleking went the distance and fanned eight while giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits. The Tigers are losing a big group of seniors for the 2018 season, but what they accomplished won t soon be forgotten by those who follow EHS baseball. Boy, our guys they just fought their tails off, Funkhouser said. In the winter, when we started the Joliet Challenge of being here on the field and the way they ve gone about it I never felt more relaxed just because our guys were doing what they needed to be doing. They wanted to be in this arena and I think we outcompeted a lot of teams to get to this point, and that s what you ve got to do. I m so proud of them.

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