Storm ends Edwardsville-Jerseyville game in bottom of first

EDWARDSVILLE – Wednesday evening’s scheduled baseball game between the Edwardsville High School Under-17 summer team and Jerseyville’s American Legion Post 498 team came to an early, soggy end after a pop-up thunderstorm rolled over the EHS turf field in the bottom of the first.

The game was ended tied at 3-3 with the Tigers having tied the game with two out in the bottom of the first; lightning, thunder and heavy showers blanketed the field, and with required half-hour delays for each stroke of lightning in the area, the umpires decided to call the game. The game will not count in both teams’ records as it had not yet become an official game (four-and-a-half or five innings).

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes it rains,” philosophized Edwardsville coach Craig Ohlau after the game was called. “There’s nothing we could have done (about the weather). We’ve got our pitching lined up for the weekend (for a tournament that the Tigers are hosting).

“The weather just beat us tonight.”

“That’s two in a row for us,” said Jerseyville coach Darren Perdun. “We got rained out at our place last night; the last two days, Mother Nature hasn’t been too kind to us, but it is what it is; you can’t beat Mother Nature.

“We got an inning in; we had a decent first inning offensively, defensively we had a couple of balls that we felt should have been caught out there – that happens.”

Zeke Waltz began the game for Jerseyville with a double, followed by Ronnie Guilander reaching base after being hit by a pitch with one out; Quinn Snyder followed with a single to load the bases. Kyle Kahl then delivered a two-out, two-RBI single to put Jerseyville up 2-0, followed by an RBI single from Luke Walker to get Post 498 to a 3-0 lead.

Edwardsville followed up in the bottom of the first when Aaron Young singled with one out and Joe Toscano doubled to put runners at second and third. Logan Cromer then brought in Young and Toscano with a double before Gavin Reames drew a walk and Gavin Huebner singled in Cromer before the rains came to halt the game.

Jerseyville will host Alton at 6 p.m. this evening.

Tuesday night rains also cancel a pair of contests

Severe thunderstorms that struck the area early Tuesday evening forced the postponement of a pair of Illinois District 22 baseball games that had been set for SIU-Edwardsville’s Roy Lee Field.

The storms prevented the games between Alton and Valmeyer and Edwardsville against Highland. The storms featured heavy rain and severe lightning.

“There’s not much you can do about the weather,” said Alton manager Nick Paulda. “This one seemed to pop up out of nowhere; it seemed to half-form right on top of us. The rain isn’t much of a factor since we have an all-turf field (at Roy Lee Field), but lightning kept us off the field; it’s nothing to mess with.”

A makeup date for Tuesday’s games have yet to be set, but a game between Edwardsville and Alton that was postponed from last Thursday because of similar storms in the Alton area will be made up next Monday as part of a doubleheader between the two teams in Edwardsville. The games are set for 6 and 8 p.m. June 25.

In addition, both Edwardsville and Alton will be meeting Lincoln July 7 and Harrisburg July 8 at Redbird Field on the Alton High School campus, with the games being set for noon and 3 p.m. Edwardsville will meet Lincoln and Harrisburg in the noon games that weekend and Alton meets Lincoln and Harrisburg in the 3 p.m. games on each day.

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