Edwardsville also features an ambidextrous player

Logan Eader became ambidextrous out of necessity. Michael Failoni did it because he could.

Eader, a senior outfielder for Triad High, was forced to learn how to throw right-handed after his sophomore season when juvenile rheumatoid arthritis helped facilitate serious structural damage to his left shoulder.

Failoni, a junior third baseman with the Edwardsville Tigers, was born left-handed but taught himself to throw right-handed at a young age.

"My dad told me if I want to play left-handed, I could only play three positions in the field," Failoni said. "I didn't want that so I worked on throwing right-handed, and it basically came pretty natural to me when I was little."

Failoni throws right-handed when he plays the infield but switches to his left hand when he plays the outfield. He did that several times this season for the Tigers.

At the plate, however, he always bats from the left side.

"Me batting right-handed is not good," said Failoni, who led the 33-5 Tigers with a .487 batting average and 57 hits to go along with six home runs and 61 RBIs.

--Rod Kloeckner