Alabama-bound Chiarodo quiets QHS offense as Edwardsville wins regional championship

May 31, 2025 | By Muddy River Sports

Quincy High School first baseman Nate Conrad forces out Edwardsville's Logan Porter during Saturday's Class 4A regional championship game in Belleville, Ill. | Photo courtesy Greg Shashack, Alton Telegraph

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — One of the most highly touted players in the state silenced the Quincy High School baseball team’s bats Saturday.

By doing so, Edwardsville’s Joe Chiarodo ended the Blue Devils’ season.

The senior right-hander limited Quincy to just three singles — two days after the Blue Devils had 25 hits in the regional semifinal — as Edwardsville won its sixth consecutive regional title with a 10-0, six-inning victory in the championship game of the Class 4A Belleville West Regional.

Chiarodo, who has signed with Alabama and is ranked among the top 10 seniors in Illinois by Perfect Game USA and Prep Baseball Report, struck out 12, walked one and allowed just three hits. He avoided trouble the two times the Blue Devils put runners in scoring position.

The Blue Devils (15-19) put two runners on base with one out in the first inning as Cameron Lawson drew a walk and Drake Gibson followed with an infield single. A strikeout and a lineout ended the threat.

In the fifth inning, Quincy’s Mason Ritter led off with a single and Trace Routh reached on an infield single. James Day put down a sacrifice bunt that resulted in an Edwardsville error that loaded the bases with no outs.

Chiarodo, who was charged with a throwing error on the sacrifice attempt, proceeded to strike out Jacob Salisbury swinging, Kade Parkhill looking and Lawson swinging to escape the jam.

Meanwhile, the Tigers steadily built their lead by scoring two runs in five different inning to invoke the mercy rule. It started with Chiarodo doubling with one out in the first off Blue Devils starter Drake Gibson and Max Waltenberger following with an RBI triple to center field. Greyson Rathgeb’s two-out single plated the second run.

Gibson retired the Tigers in order in the second with back-to-back strikeouts, but Edwardsville got a two-out RBI double from Rathgeb in the third, a pair of run-scoring sacrifices in the fourth, consecutive RBI singles in the fifth and a pair of sacrifice flies in the sixth to end it.

Gibson allowed four earned runs and 10 hits over five innings with five strikeouts and one walk. Waltenberger and Rathgeb had two hits apiece for the Tigers.

Edwardsville (26-10) will face Belleville East in the Bloomington Sectional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Tigers are seeking their fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.