EDWARDSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

 “CHAMPIONS AWARD”

1990 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL TEAM

The 1990 baseball team secured the program’s first state championship and the school’s second.

Edwardsville finished the 1990 season with a 32-3 record including a 4-1 win over Joliet Catholic to win the Class AA state championship in Springfield. It was ranked No. 1 in the state by the Chicago Tribune and No. 7 nationally by Collegiate Baseball and No. 12 by USA Today.

Players on the 1990 baseball team included Flowers, Tom Price, J.J. Scerba, Gregg Morrison, Dave Slemmer, John Droste, Mark Little, Cameron Turner, Todd Zude, Jason Boyd, Dan Fanter, Scott Fuller, Matt Hall, Otez Hudson, Jason Jones, Ben Slemmer, Dean Suhre, Andrew Thompson, Dan Carter, Brad Lawrence, Joe Blasingim, Todd Klucker and Tim Funhouser.

The team was coached by EHS Athletic Hall of Famer Tom Pile, who retired at the end of the 1998 season with a 509-149 record, 12 regional championships and five state tournament appearances. Mike Waldo and Darrell Butler were assistant coaches.

Edwardsville’s run to the state championship ended two years of coming up just short. EHS lost 9-6 to Barrington in the state semifinals after defeating Joliet Catholic 4-0 in the quarterfinals in 1988. The next season, EHS was knocked out of the postseason by Harrisburg, which went on to win the state championship.

At the Class AA state tournament in 1990, Blasingim twirled a two-hit, 12-strikeout gem against Champaign Central in a 3-0 win in the quarterfinals. He finished his junior season 8-0 with a 1.89 ERA. After EHS, Blasingim pitched at Missouri State and two seasons in the minor leagues.

Price pitched the Tigers to an 8-1 win over Simeon in the semifinals. EHS stole a state-record 15 bases in the win. Price ended his senior season with a 13-0 record and 0.95 ERA, which included an 8-1 win over Simeon in the semifinals. The Tigers stole a state-record 15 bases in that win.

EHS turned to Little to finish the job. He entered the state championship game with a 3-1 record and 2.78 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 22.2 innings. Little went the distance, using 127 pitches, and allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. He limited Joliet Catholic to one run on a fifth-inning fielder’s choice after a pair of singles.

The Tigers tied it 1-1 on a suicide squeeze by Morrison, scoring Little, in the sixth. In the ninth, pinch-hitter Ben Slemmer led off with a walk and Turner followed with a single before Funkhouser walked to load the bases. A suicide squeeze by Droste scored Slemmer to make it 2-1. Price followed with an RBI groundout and Little lifted a sacrifice fly to right to up the lead to 4-1. Little took care of the rest on the mound, finishing out the program’s first state championship.

It was the 25th straight win to close out the season for the Tigers, who wouldn’t lose again until a 10-3 loss to South Holland (Thornwood) in the Class AA state championship game in 1991. The state-record 64-game winning streak is the seventh-longest in prep history and was the fourth-most at the time.

In 1990, the Tigers batted .361 with 32 home runs on the season — both set program records at the time. All nine starters hit over .300 for the season, including shortstop Funkhouser (.325, 17 RBIs); right fielder Droste (.393, 18 RBIs); pitcher/designated hitter Price (.379, 29 RBIs); center fielder Little (.402, 8 HRs, 35 RBIs), catcher Scerba (.350, 4 HRs, 31 RBIs), Morrison (.373, 3 HRs, 36 RBIs); Flowers (.391, 36 RBIs), third baseman Dave Slemmer (.327, 20 RBIs) and Klucker (.307).

1998 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL TEAM

The 1998 baseball team completed a 40-0 season with a 10-2 win over Tinley Park Andrew in the Class AA state championship game and ended the year ranked No. 1 in the country by Collegiate Baseball and No. 6 by USA Today. The Tigers are the last IHSA baseball team to complete a perfect season and are one of three in IHSA history.

Players on the team included Chad Opel, Tim Hansel, Ben Hutton, Andrew Honneger, Matt Bogle, Ryan Peterson, Justin Hampson, Brad Grotefendt, Dave Crouthers, Mike Harris, Joe Fisher, Bill Flowers, Kory Kuba, James Hutton, Matt Turner, Matt Evers, Nick Seibert, Robert Hohn, Geoff Richey, Chris Johnson, Ben Hosto, Mark Riesenberg and Travis Riggs.

Edwardsville’s final three wins of the season came at the Class AA state tournament with a 14-4 quarterfinal victory over Oak Park-River Forest, a 4-1 semifinal win over Chicago Simeon and the 10-2 championship victory over Tinley Park Andrew. In the win over Tinley Park Andrew, James Hutton threw a complete game. He allowed two runs on 10 hits to earn the win. Opel went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, while Evers had two hits, including a home run, and James Hutton had two RBIs. Crouthers and Bogle each finished with two hits.

The starting lineup for EHS featured Crouthers (.500 batting average) in center field, Bogle (.337) at third base, Opel (.453) at shortstop, Seibert (.414) in left field, Evers (.421) at first base, James Hutton (.364) or Fisher (.250) at catcher, Turner (.291) at designated hitter, Honegger (.233) or Hansel (.235) at second base and Kuba (.277) in right field.

Ben Hutton (17-0, 1.07 ERA) was the ace for the Tigers’ pitching staff, which also included his twin brother James Hutton (8-0, 1.06); Hampson (7-0, 1.48); Grotefendt (5-0, 1.00); Seibert (2-0, 0.67) and Johnson (1-0, 2.80).

Ben Hutton was named first team All-America by Collegiate Baseball magazine.