Edwardsville’s powerful lineup knocks QHS baseball team out in regional championship game

ALTON, Ill. — Powered by the top three hitters in its lineup, the Edwardsville baseball team outmuscled Quincy High School in Saturday’s Class 4A Alton Regional championship.

Grant Huebner, Spencer Stearns and Riley Iffrig went a combined 8 for 11 with two home runs, three doubles and six RBIs to send the top-seeded Tigers to a 13-3, six-inning victory over the fourth-seeded Blue Devils at Lloyd Hopkins Field.

“We do a really good job of feeding off of each other and working against the pitcher,” said Iffrig, who went 3 for 4 with two RBI and finished a triple shy of the cycle.

It is the state-record 34th regional championship for the Tigers, who have won four straight and 16 titles under coach Tim Funkhouser.

“You have to cherish everyone. Sometimes at Edwardsville, you are expected to win it. Every game, every pitch matters. I’m glad we were able to prevail,” Funkhouser said.

Edwardsville, now 31-4, advances to play Belleville East in the Illinois Wesleyan Sectional semifinals The game will be played at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Roy E. Lee Field on the campus of SIUE.

Quincy ends its season at 18-13, its most victories in the last two decades.

“This senior group works extremely hard and is really talented,” Blue Devils coach Brandon Crisp said. “Quincy is going to miss them, but we have some groups coming up. When we start winning, people are going to look back at this year and say that was the start.”

The Blue Devils got the start they wanted when Kenny Taylor scored on an RBI groundout after leading off the game with a single and moving to third on a double by Luke Mettemeyer, but the Tigers needed just three hitters to answer.

Huebner led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run to right. It was his second leadoff homer of the season.

“That leadoff bomb really got us going. I love hitting in the leadoff spot,” Huebner said.

After Stearns doubled off the top of the wall in left, Iffrig blasted a two-run shot to right to make it 3-1. It was the third home run of the season for Iffrig.

“That was fun and really got us going as a team. It got the energy up,” Iffrig said.

The Blue Devils rallied to tie it at 3 in the second on a two-run double by Taylor that just stayed fair inside the left-field line. Taylor went 2 for 2 with a run scored and two RBIs.

“We played Edwardsville three or four years ago and (the start) went the same and we kind of just laid down. We fought back today. I was really happy with our approaches,” Crisp said. “The thing today is Edwardsville is a good team with a great lineup. It’s hard to keep those guys in check sometimes.”

After Edwardsville retook a 4-3 lead on a balk call in the second, it took control of the game with a three-run fourth.

With runners at the corners, Stearns roped an RBI single into left to push the lead to 5-3. Two batters later, Caeleb Copeland blooped an RBI single into center. Adam Powell capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-3. Quincy got out of the jam with a double play when Taylor threw out a runner at home after making a catch in left.

The Tigers finished off the win with a six-run sixth.

For Quincy, Noah Harbin went four innings and allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits with six strikeouts and six walks.

“He battled his butt off,” Crisp said of Harbin.