Yancik Propels Edwardsville Past St. Laurence, Into 4A Title Game

June 9, 2017

By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

JOLIET, IL - Andrew Yancik, take a well-deserved bow.

The Edwardsville senior right-hander delivered an indelible performance in every facet to lead the No. 8 Tigers to a 3-1 victory over No. 4 St. Laurence in the Class 4A state semifinal Friday night at Silver Cross Field.

The 6-foot-2, 170-pounder not only shut down St. Laurence's high-powered offense, he delivered all three RBIs at the plate to propel Edwardsville to the Class 4A state championship game Saturday night against Crystal Lake South.

Yancik's efforts put the Tigers (34-7) in position to claim the storied program's third state championship, and first since 1998. It also halted the Chicago Catholic Blue's four-year state title run.

Yancik, who's committed to McKendree College, yielded only five hits while striking out six with no walks and one hit batter. He consistently kept St. Laurence (35-6) off balance with his mid-80s cross-fire fastball and low-70s slider.

Offensively, Yancik broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with a two-run double to left-center field. The fourth-inning rally came all with two outs against Angel Sandoval (11-1), starting with an infield hit, followed by Sandoval's only walk in five innings work.

After St. Laurence cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the fourth, Yancik gave himself more wiggle room when he laced a two-out RBI single in the sixth.

From there, Yancik continued to pound the strike zone with his fastball-slider combination to lift Edwardsville to Saturday's championship game.

"I don't think I scripted it this way going into it; I just wanted to help the team win," said Yancik, who improved to 6-1 on the season.

Yancik, who also hit a three-run homer to help Edwardsville in the first round of the playoffs, finished 2-for-3 at the plate. He also received some excellent outfield play by centerfielder Dylan Burris and left fielder Will Messer, both who covered a lot of ground to rob potential extra-base hits.

Four St. Laurence pitchers limited Edwardsville's offense to six hits. Zach Verta led the Vikings offense, going 2-for-3 with a double. Jimmy Burnette had the team's only RBI on a groundout.