Going in, Monday's rain-delayed IHSA Class 4A Edwardsville Regional final between the host Tigers and Alton seemed to be the most anticipated high-school baseball matchup in the Metro St. Louis area in quite some time.

It was easy to see why; the Redbirds' Bryan Hudson would be given the ball against Tiger ace Daniel Lloyd. And given the thrilling outcome of the 2014 regional final between the two teams – a 1-0 EHS win in the bottom of the seventh – anticipation was high.

It was enough to draw an estimated 1,500 fans to Tom Pile Field, and they weren't disappointed.

In the end, it was a pair of errors in the bottom of the fifth that led to three runs that was the difference as Edwardsville advanced to this week's Bloomington Sectional with a 5-2 win over Alton. The Tigers will take on O'Fallon, 10-0, five-inning winners over Belleville East in the Granite City Regional final, at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at a venue in the Metro-East area; the site had not been announced on the IHSA web site Monday night.

“There were two good teams competing today,” said Redbird coach Todd Haug. “What it came down to was execution, and their execution is outstanding.”

“Our guys competed well,” said Tiger coach Tim Funkhouser. “We were able to execute a safety squeeze to get a run home, and executed well on a second-and-third situation, kept the ball in play and got some runs from it.”

The Tiger execution certainly helped them on Monday. That, and a couple of key defensive plays from left fielder Fahd Shakeel, especially one in the third inning that kept the Redbirds off the board when Shakeel raced to his left and got to a fly ball off Derrick Allen's bat that seemed ready to fall and give AHS a lead, diving to make the play.

“That was a big play by Fahd,” Funkhouser said. “We do a lot of work out there every day and there's a lot of trust that we'll get there and make the plays when we need them.”

It certainly was as both starting pitchers Bryan Hudson and Daniel Lloyd otherwise had no trouble going through the other team's order the first time up, Lloyd only walking Steven Nguyen and Hudson giving up a hit to Joe Wallace.

Edwardsville broke on top first in the fourth when Collin Clayton drew a walk and Aaron Jackson singled to put runners at first and third. Jackson then stole second and, after a Matt Zielonko strikeout, Jake Garella hit into a fielder's choice that brought in a run, and Shakeel grounded to Hudson for the second out, but Jackson came home for the Tigers' second run.

In the fifth, Bailey Zimmer and Mitchell Krebs singled to start the inning and both advanced on a well-executed Wallace sacrifice. Jacob Hovey was intentionally walked to load up the bases and Hudson got Clayton to strike out. Jackson then came up and grounded to shortstop Drake Hampton, but Krebs, leaping to avoid being hit by the ball, somehow also disrupted Hampton, who threw wildly to first to score Zimmer and Krebs. Hovey, seeing the ball get away, broke for the plate and first baseman Jacob Kanallakan, trying to get Hovey, threw wildly to allow the run to score and Jackson to move to second.

That gave Lloyd some breathing room, and despite giving up two runs in the sixth when Jacob Skrabacz scored on a wild pitch and Matt Hopkins scored on a grounder to second, maintained the lead.

Lloyd lasted until giving up a double to Nguyen with one out in the seventh, when he was lifted for Garella, who got Steven Patten to ground to third and struck out Skrabacz to send the Tigers to the sectional.

While the loss was disappointing, the Tigers gained some supporters from the Alton side. “It's a rivalry, yes, but a friendly rivalry,” Haug said. “There's no bad blood between us and we're hoping they can bring some hardware back to Southern Illinois.”

“They had a 30-win season and it was an outstanding season for them, so we tip our caps to them,” Funkhouser said.

With the Tigers about to face the Panthers for a third time – the first game was a 2-1, 11-inning thriller at Tom Pile Field In April – Funkhouser and the Tigers are going to stick with what works for them.

“We'll enjoy this one, then start getting ready for O'Fallon,” Funkhouser said. “We'll be ready to go.”