A new home base for Illinois Tigers baseball is now open – The Edwardsville Intelligencer

The Illinois Tigers Baseball Club is proud to announce the opening of the Illinois Tigers Performance Center, the new home of the Illinois Tigers Baseball Club and a dedicated year-round training facility designed to support player development, team culture, and long-term growth for athletes across the organization.

The facility is located at 9500A Collinsville Road in Collinsville.

The Illinois Tigers Baseball Club, a nonprofit 501(c)(7) youth baseball organization, serves players across multiple age levels with a mission centered on togetherness, development, and competitive growth.

The new 35,000-square-foot Performance Center represents a major step forward for the club, providing players, coaches, and families with a true home base for training, instruction, team activities, and organizational development.

“This has been a long time coming for our club,” said President Ryan High. “We’re excited to have such a great place to provide training and development for our athletes. This facility gives our players a place to grow together, push each other, and truly have a place to call home.”

The Illinois Tigers Performance Center will provide athletes with expanded access to year-round training opportunities, including hitting, pitching, defensive work, agility training, strength training, and player development programming.

The facility features eight hitting cages, two turf fielding areas, a pitching bullpen, a scout room, and a weight-training area, creating a comprehensive training environment for athletes of all ages.

The facility also will support the club’s offseason training model, a key part of the Tigers’ commitment to helping players continue improving beyond the regular season.

A major component of the club’s development structure is led by Chris Erwin, director of player development for the Illinois Tigers Baseball Club and head baseball coach at Father McGivney Catholic High School. Erwin and his staff provide instruction to Tigers players throughout the year, helping guide the organization’s development philosophy and training standards.

“Having someone like Chris Erwin involved in our player development is a major part of what makes our club special,” High said. “His knowledge, leadership, and commitment to teaching the game are incredibly valuable to our players, teams, and organization as a whole.”

The facility also will support the club’s older age groups through the Tigers Scout program, which includes teams from 15U through 18U. The Tigers Scout program is designed to help high school-aged players gain exposure to college coaches and scouts while continuing to develop their skills in a structured, competitive environment.

Each Tigers Scout team is led by a paid coach and receives development training, agility training, and access to hitting and pitching metrics tools to help players better understand and improve their performance.

“Our goal is to create an environment where players are challenged, supported, and prepared for the next level,” Erwin said. “The Illinois Tigers Performance Center gives us the ability to bring our development model, our coaching staff, and our organizational culture together under one roof.”

The opening of the Illinois Tigers Performance Center marks an important milestone for the club as it continues to expand its impact on youth baseball in the region. More than just a training space, the facility is intended to become a central gathering place for players, coaches, families, and teams — a place where the Tigers’ culture of togetherness, hard work, and fearless competition can continue to grow.

For upcoming tryout registration and more information about the Illinois Tigers Baseball Club, visit www.IllinoisTigers.com.

About Illinois Tigers Baseball Club

The Illinois Tigers Baseball Club is a nonprofit 501(c)(7) youth baseball organization committed to developing skilled baseball players, strong teammates, and confident young leaders. Built around a culture of togetherness and the motto, “Train Fierce. Play Fearless.,” the club provides competitive baseball opportunities, year-round development, and team-first instruction for athletes across multiple age levels.