ALTON - Edwardsville beat Alton 9-2 on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, but Alton coach Scott Harper said he is looking ahead to a rematch at home at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, 2026, as the Southwestern Conference season continues.
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Alton, which fell to 6-5 overall with the loss, “didn’t play particularly well on this day against Edwardsville,” Harper said, despite what he described as a strong start to the season.
“We have had a decent start, but we got ourselves in tough situations, made some plays, and crazier things happened today, where we got outs that were there to get, and we don’t get them," Coach Harper said. "We were in a giving spirit today, I guess, because we had way too many walks, and too many extra bases for them, moving up bases, stealing bases, and so forth. Some plays, like I said, that we had and didn’t get.”
Harper said the conference schedule adds urgency and that the issues from Tuesday are “very correctable.”
“You try to figure out and learn from a game like this,” Harper said. “We’ll get some work in tomorrow, and then we’ll get them again on Thursday. So, we’ve got to put ourselves in a better situation, better position to win.”
Coach Harper also pointed to the competitiveness of the Southwestern Conference and said Edwardsville capitalized on Alton’s mistakes.
“It’s always a good brand of baseball, and good teams that are going to like the Tigers did today, taking advantage of the things that we gave them,” he said. “That’s why we had the lopsided score.”
Looking ahead, Harper said Alton’s roster includes experienced players and that he remains optimistic about the season.
“We have some senior experience we’re going to lean on,” Harper said, “our pitching has been good most of the time. The last couple of outings, that’s what’s put us in a bad situation, a bad position. But we’re going to keep working at it. We’ve got a good group of guys that enjoy the game, we’ve just got to understand the situations and be better.”
