Boys Prep Baseball: Tribe Dominates in DH Sweep at Herrin

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Some lofty pre-season expectations have been set for Du Quoin High School's Baseball team.

After Saturday's season opening doubleheader sweep of Herrin, its easy to see why.

Cranking out 30 hits, Du Quoin's offensive machine was in full-gear during 17-8 and 8-2 victories at Memorial Ball Park. The Indians (2-0) host Goreville at 4;30 Monday. Herrin's record fell to 2-2 with the double-dip setback.

"The kids had a good approach at the plate all day and putting together hits in bunches was big for us," Du Quoin coach Tim Craft said. "We ran the bases aggressively and took advantage of our opportunities."

In the first game- despite stranding a dozen runners- Du Quoin smacked around three Tiger hurlers for 17 safeties.

J.C. Davis, Cale Bastien, Josh Cushman and Nick Baskin all had three hits with Ethan Beasley and Seth Flint adding two hits apiece.

Cushman sliced a three-run homer to the opposite field and Baskin put the finishing touches on Du Quoin's wins with a bases loaded double. Cushman worked the first four innings in dominating fashion, whiffing nine and allowing Herrin just one hit.

The Tigers rattled Du Quoin sophomore reliever for six runs before Garrett Hopkins relieved. Hopkins gave just one hit over the final two frames.

Game two was knotted at 3-3 in the last of the fifth when Flint relieved Bastien on the mound and pitched out of a jam.

He also struck out the side in the sixth and then skirted trouble in the seventh to close things out.

In the sixth, Du Quoin scored four times to seal its sweep.

Cushman tripled and came around on a wild pitch. Hopkins later added a sacrifice fly with Baskin and Brandon George adding RBI hits.

Davis went 3-for-4 with Cushman, Baskin, George and Tyler Shelton all contributing two hits.

Flint (1-0) struck out three and gained the victory.

Du Quoin 17, Herrin 8

DHS 203 152 4-17 17 2

Herrin 100 070 0- 8 6 5

Josh Cushman, Trent Bigham (5), Garrett Hopkins (5) and Colin Jones. WP-Cushman, 1-0. (4 ip, 1r, 1 h, 9k, 5bb). Du Quoin top hitters: J.C. Davis 3-4 (2B, 2 RBI), Cale Bastien 3-6 (3B, 2 RBI), Cushman 3-4 (HR, 3 RBI), Ethan Beasley 2-6 (2 RBI), Seth Flint 2-5, Jones (RBI), Nick Baskin 3-4 (2B, 3 RBI), Brandon George 1-4 (RBI), Hopkins (3 runs).

Du Quoin 9, Herrin 3

DHS 120 004 2- 9 13 1

Herrin 020 010 0- 3 4 1

Bastien, Flint (5) and Tyler Shelton. WP- Seth Flint, 1-0. (3ip, 0r, 0h, 4bb, 4k). Du Quoin top hitters: Davis 3-4 (2B, RBI), Cushman 2-3 (3B, RBI), Beasley 1-3, Shelton 2-3, Hopkins 1-2 (RBI), Baskin 2-3 (2B, 2 RBI), George 2-3 (RBI).