DU QUOIN BASEBALL: 2-0 Red Bud Wins Pepsi Classic Title

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Red Bud posted two victories and claimed first place in the 6th Annual Du Quoin Pepsi/Mid-America Baseball Classic Saturday afternoon.

The Musketeers surprised host Du Quoin 8-2 in the early morning contest and then defeated Flora 4-1 to finish at 2-0.

Du Quoin (1-1) took second after whipping Flora 5-1 to complete the event. Flora finished 0-2. The Indians are 5-3 after Monday's game with Chester was called off.

"Our defense against Red Bud was atrocious," Indians coach Tim Craft said. "Our pitchers didn't throw that bad. When we finally got some base runners on, we made two huge mistakes on the bases. This was a very frustrating game. Against Flora Seth Flint and Colin Jones did a great job on the mound. We really needed a solid pitching performance."

Matt Gossett (0-1) worked the first four innings versus Red Bud, allowing eight hits and giving four earned runs. J.C. Davis finished up."

Josh Cushman went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double. Davis and Ethan Beasley added RBI doubles.

Jones (1-0) gained the victory over Flora, relieving Flint in the fourth inning. Cushman fanned two in the seventh to gain his first save.

The trio gave 10 hits, but allowed only a single Flora run in the third inning.

Jones belted a two-run homer in the fifth with Cale Bastien, Tyler Shelton, Cushman and Beasley adding hits. Nick Baskin went 2-for-4.

Friday afternoon, the Indians dropped a 12-11 slugfest against Class 3A Mt. Vernon.

Cushman was 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBI and a two-run homer.

Davis, Bastien and Brandon George all had two hits.

Logan Carson (0-1), the second of four Indian hurlers, took the mound loss.

"We ended the game with the tying run on base," Craft said. "Our kids did a great job of fighting back. We got down twice and came back to take the lead."

The offense for Mt. Vernon helped the Rams jump out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings, but the Indians came back in the third to score three times, including a two run shot from Cushman to deep center field.

Du Quoin took its only lead in the game in the fourth with a four run inning, which included four singles and a walk.

The seven run fourth was enough to hold off Du Quoin, but not without a fight from the Indians.

No stick, however, could match what Cushman did for the Indians.

" He's been a big part of our team for three years," said Craft. "He works hard at it. He doesn't expand his zone a whole lot. He knows what he's looking for and when he gets it, he can really turn on it."