BASEBALL: Panthers sweep doubleheader with Goreville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville swept a Saturday baseball doubleheader with Goreville over the weekend, exploding for 14 runs in a game one shutout before squeaking out a 3-2 win later in the second game.
"It was nice to see us find two very different ways to win two games on Saturday, although good pitching and defense were constants in both," said Panthers' head baseball coach Alan Engelhardt.
The offense took care of Goreville in game one, putting up four in the second inning before a ten spot in the third. Bryant Shute (2-for-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Brandon Long (2-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI) and Joey Burris (2-3, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI) each had two hits.
"In the first game (14-0) we really swung the bats well, consistently hitting the ball hard on a line and making ourselves into difficult outs," Engelhardt said. "Hunter Queen, Bryant Shute, and Noah Hepp all threw the ball well, combining on a one-hitter, and we got hits from every spot in the batting order."
Queen (1-0) got the victory for his three hitless innings of work, striking out three Goreville batters.
In game two, the offense was a little more quiet, but Matthew Nichols threw six strong innings to pick up his first victory of the season, allowing just one run in a 3-2 Pinckneyville win.
The Panthers got one run on Taylor Beninati's RBI double in the second inning, and two more in the sixth, one on Beninati's single. The Panther centerfielder was 2-for-3 at the dish with 2 RBI and a stolen base in game two, 3-for-5 (R, 3 RBI) on the day.
" we once again pitched well, getting six very good innings from Matthew Nichols and a solid seventh from Joey Burris," Engelhardt said. "We didn't have as good of a game hitting the ball, but we found a way to score runs against a very good pitcher, and the bottom of our order really came through, with Taylor Beninati knocking in two of the runs (and the third scoring on a passed ball)."
"I was also really pleased with Dylan Hardin; although the stats will show that he was 1 for 6, he did little things and successfully moved runners forward 4 times. Because he was willing to give himself up to move runners, we ended up scoring on all 4 of those occasions. Doing little things like that are how teams get onto winning streaks."
The Panthers look to keep their winning streak going on Tuesday at Carterville (4:30 p.m.) after Monday's home game with Sparta was postponed due to weather.