SIJHSSA State Semifinals: Du Quoin's Title Bid Ended

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[In frustrating fashion, Du Quoin (Middle School) saw its bid for repeat Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association (SIJHSAA) Class L State Baseball championships slip away Wednesday afternoon.

The Warriors, 21-4, stranded 11 baserunners- five of those at third base- and lost a nine-inning decision to Harrisburg.

The final score was 6-5, dropping DMS into the third place game opposite Carmi (15-3). Harrisburg (21-4) plays Waterloo (23-4)-a surprising 5-4 winner over Carmi-in the state finals .

Play has been canceled indefinitely by rain with tournament officials shooting to resume play with games at 1 p.m. and 3 o'clock Monday at Rigdon Field.

"We talked at the beginning of the regional about making sure we do the little things," DMS coach Tim Craft sad. "Little things in big games are always the difference. In games like this you have to make plays, make pitches, make contact at the plate. Unfortunately we did not do all of those things today consistently enough to win. I am really proud of these kids though. They battled the entire game. We just came up short. We still have one more game together though, and can still go out winning our last game."

DMS broke open a scoreless contest in the fourth inning. Seventh grader Noah Campbell belted a two-run homer, a line shot that curled around the leftfield foul pole, for a 2-0 Du Quoin lead.

Later in the frame, Jacob Valier's RBI single pushed the margin to 3-0.

Harrisburg touched Warrior starter Camden Mercier for two runs in the fifth, but DMS pushed its margin to 5-2 with a pair of sixth inning tallies.

Three walks, four fielders choices and a wild pitch plated the runs, but DMS left the bases loaded when Spencer Cook bounced out.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs scored three times against Mercier and reliever Camden Youngman to force extra innings.

In the ninth, Harrisburg won the game on a one-out bases loaded single by Zach Smith.

"We had our opportunities, we just weren't able to drive in runs," said Craft. "This was really a tough game. The kids played their guts out, it just wasn't enough."

Mercier worked six innings, giving six hits and striking out five.

Youngman gave three hits and was saddled with the mound loss.

At the plate, Campbell also doubled and was 2-for-5 with four RBI.

Mercier, Youngman, Cook, Kody Hess (double), Dalton Bigham and Valier had hits.

Brendan Shepard was 2-for-3.