Baugh Strikes Out Three On Mound, Delivers Key Hit With Two-Run Double in Second, Edwardsville Wins Class 4A Regional Crown Over Collinsville 7-0

Baugh starred on the mound and at the plate as Edwardsville broke open the game early and moved one step closer to a deeper postseason run.

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

May 30, 2026 8:11 PM Jun 1, 2026 11:01 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE - Hunter Baugh went four innings on the mound to earn the win, striking out three, and also delivered the key hit of the game in a four-run second, a two-out, two-run double as Edwardsville won 7-0 over Collinsville in the IHSA baseball regional final Saturday morning, May 30, 2026, at Tom Pile Field.

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The win advanced the Tigers to the Normal Community sectional semifinal on Wednesday night, June 3, 2026, at Roy E. Lee Field at the Simmons Baseball Complex at SIU-Edwardsville with a 6 p.m. start.

Edwardsville scored all of its runs in the first three innings, one in the first, four in the second, and two more in the third, and it would be all it needed, as three Tigers pitchers shut down the Kahoks.

"I thought our guys really played well," said Edwardsville head coach Tim Funkhouser. "We were able to execute multiple times in the course of the game in some of the different things we wanted to be able to do, and our guys worked incredibly hard to be able to have an opportunity to do those things.

"I love how they trust themselves, and there was some execution where we didn't, and they didn't let that kind of bog them down. We continue to learn from the game, but Hunter Baugh was awesome for us. We've had a lot of guys battling injuries, and we're just getting some of our stock back. We've had so many guys compete, and get to the point where we are, being able to have Hunter open it, and then to have Chase (Milburn) close it at the end was a special day here."

Milburn made his third appearance of the season after coming back from a serious arm injury, and Funkhouser was very proud of his fellow senior pitcher.

"He's worked incredibly hard," Funkhouser said, "has never wavered in the way he's carried himself; he's just a bulldog, a great teammate, and a guy that guys could just learn a ton from. Even though he had a role throughout the whole year, of just getting himself healthy. We didn't even know if he'd be in a competitive game at all; he'd been throwing bullpens for a while since March to kind of get him back into action, but coming back from the injury. So, for him to get out there was awesome, and to compete the way he did, it was great."

Edwardsville will now face O'Fallon, who pulled out a 5-4, eight-inning win over Belleville West to take the Belleville East regional, in Wednesday's semifinal. Funkhouser is familiar with both teams, as they regularly meet in the Southwestern Conference.

"We've played both of them," Funkhouser said, "I think they're both good teams. We'll have a couple of days to get better ourselves, on Monday and Tuesday, and then, we'll see what we've got on Wednesday."

The winner goes on to the sectional final round of a 16-game against the winner of Minooka and Normal Community on June 6 at 11 a.m., and Funkhouser knows you never know what could happen down the road.

"You never know," Funkhouser said. "We try to stay in the moment; like right now, we're focusing on practice on Monday, but actually, right now, we're going to enjoy the moment. It's something we want to make sure we do, because we've been fortunate to have some success to win some regionals, but we never take them for granted. It's a great accomplishment for our guys. I thought Collinsville's guys competed with their hearts. I saw their game the other day (a 12-3 win in the second semifinal) against Quincy, and they're great competitors. We're fortunate to get the W today."

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Although the Kahoks ended their season at 12-20 with the loss, the team made great strides during the season, and there's a bright future ahead for Collinsville baseball. The Kahoks never surrendered and kept fighting until the final out.

"I thought as a team, we competed pretty well," said Collinsville head coach Matt Pomerantz. "There's some things we're going to need to work on in the off-season, so next season starts tomorrow, basically is what I told the guys. But they at least put up a fight. In years past, it might have looked a lot different. We only got out-hit by one; we did have some walks that led to different errors. Edwardsville's just a really, really good baseball team. You make errors, they put the pressure on you, they put the pressure on the defense, and kudos to them. They did a really good job pitching today, and they did a really good job on pressing on some of the mistakes that we made."

The Kahoks opened the game with a threat, as Carter and Braden Henson started off with back-to-back singles, but Carter Henson was thrown out at third trying to steal. Will Swip reached on an error by the shortstop, and Carson Parrill was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A strikeout and pop-out to the third baseman ended the threat.

Edwardsville got things started in its half of the first with Andrew McCutchen drawing a walk to lead off, going to second when a pickoff throw got away for an error, and scoring one out later on Jack Kirgan's RBI single to make it 1-0 for the Tigers. A pair of strikeouts ended the inning.

In the bottom of the second, Nathan Bukovac singled to start things off, and went to second when a bunt attempt by Nolan Vojak was mishandled by the first baseman, to put runners at first and second. Bukovac and Vojak then stole third and second, respectively, and Bukovac came home on an error by the catcher to make it 2-0. Two outs later, Vojak went to third on a wild pitch, McCutchen walked, and Baugh delivered the biggest blow of the game, a two-RBI double to left, scoring Vojak and McCutchen to give Edwardsville a 4-0 lead. Kirgan singled home Baugh to make it 5-0 for the Tigers before the inning ended.

Nick Chiarodo reached on an error to start the Tigers' third, Bukovac singled to move him to third, with Bukovac stealing second, and when the throw by the catcher got away, Chiarodo scored and upped the Edwardsville lead to 6-0. Sutton Leas then lifted a sacrifice fly to left, with Bukovac tagging and scoring to give Edwardsville a 7-0 lead.

Chiarodo took over for Baugh in the fifth and pitched well, holding the Kahoks to no runs, then Milburn, in only his third appearance of the season, set Collinsville down in order in the seventh to give the Tigers the 7-0 win and allowed them to move on to the sectional.

Kirgan had two hits and two RBIs for Edwardsville, while Bukovac had a pair of hits, Baugh had a hit and two RBIs, McCutchen came up with a hit, and Leas drove in a run. Baugh pitched four innings on the mound to gain credit for the win, allowing no runs on two hits, walking two, and striking out three. Chiarodo pitched two innings, giving up no runs on three hits, walking one, and fanning one, and Milburn pitched a one-two-three seventh for the Tigers to end the game.

Braden Henson had two hits for the Kahoks, while Carter Henson, Pomerantz, and Ayden Bailey had the other hits. Logan O'Dell pitched five innings and was tagged with the loss,, allowing seven unearned runs on five hits, walking four, and fanning none. Mason Ponder pitched in the sixth and allowed no runs on one hit, walking none and striking out one.

Collinsville ends the year at 12-20, while the Tigers go to 26-11, and meet the Panthers in the sectional semifinal on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at SIU-Edwardsville, with the winner going to the final/round of 16 game against either Minooka or Normal Community on June 6 at 11 a.m.

The sectional winner goes to the super-sectional quarterfinal game, also at Normal Community, June 8 at 6 p.m. at the Corn Cob, with the winner going to the state finals June 12-13 at Slammers Stadium in Joliet. The semifinal is set for June 12 at 4 p.m., while the third place game takes place June 13 at 4 p.m., and the state final is set to start at 7 p.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.