Burns, Edwardsville baseball keep Belleville East bats silent

Making his third start of the season Tuesday, Edwardsville senior pitcher Kade Burns held Belleville East hitless for six innings before reliever Andrew Yancik worked out of a bases loaded situation in the seventh as Edwardsville defeated Belleville East 4-1 in a Southwestern Conference game.

Burns (4-0) struggled with his control early, walking the leadoff hitter in three of the first four innings. But when the senior right-hander did find the strike zone, the Lancers struggled to make contact. Burns struck out 11 and allowed only one ball to be hit out of the infield in his six innings of work.

“I think he may have had trouble adjusting to the mound early tonight. Every mound is a little different. He got stronger as the game went on, and I think you saw that he can be tough to hit,” Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser said.

Still with a no-hitter but with his pitch count at 94, Funkhouser pulled Burns in favor of Dan Pichlotti. With one out and a runner on first, Belleville East pinch hitter Ricky Dambacher broke up the no-hitter with a sharp single.

Belleville East (6-7, 1-3) loaded the bases before Yancik retired the last two hitters to preserve the Tigers win.

The win breaks a two-game losing streak for Edwardsville and lifts the Tigers to 4-1 in the SWC and 10-2 overall.

Key sequence

Like he did in a 3-0 loss to O’Fallon last week, Belleville East southpaw Ben Cruikshank kept his team in the game for the first five innings. Cruikshank allowed only four hits and one earned run.

East played good defense as well. Edwardsville loaded the bases twice and had two runners thrown out at the plate.

“Offensively we didn’t do a very good of situational hitting tonight,” Funkhouser said. “But give their pitcher credit. He made big pitches when he needed to. We were able to string a few hits together and score four runs.”

Also struggling a bit with his control early, Cruikshank hit a batter and walked two in the first inning. Joel Quirin made it 1-0 with a run-scoring single for the Tigers, who added a run in the fifth on a double by Drake Westcott, a fielder’s choice and a throwing error by Lancers catcher Trevor Sanchez.

Edwardsville made it 4-0 in the sixth inning off on a run-scoring single by Dalton Wallace and an RBI double by Dylan Burris.

But still with a no-hitter going, Burns didn’t take the mound to start the bottom of the seventh inning.

“I felt good all day. I’ve had a little trouble giving up a leadoff walks this year, but I was able to pitch the way I know I can. Pitching is more than just throwing, it’s about location and setting up your pitches. I was able to find a groove for a while today,” Burns said. “I was a little upset about coming out with a no-hitter, but my pitch count was up. I had faith the relievers could do the job.”

But not without a few anxious moments.

With the bases loaded in the seventh, Yancik gave up a run scoring ground out by Sanchez to make the score 4-1. But East would get no closer.

“We had a good day yesterday (Monday) against Freeburg with the bats, but we struggled a little bit again today. We just need some more reps,” Lancers coach Ryan Wiggs said. “I was pleased with how we battled back and gave ourselves a chance in the seventh inning.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Burns, Edwardsville baseball keep Belleville East bats silent."