BASEBALL: Pair of comeback wins carry Indians into Sectional
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After a 1-8 start, Du Quoin has completely turned their 2011 baseball season around following an 8-6 victory over Sparta on Saturday to claim the championship of the IHSA Class 2A Pinckneyville Regional and advance into Wednesday's Sectional semifinals in Greenville.
The Indians have now won ten games in a row, including a comeback victory in Friday's completion of the suspended Regional semi with Nashville.
"We lost some tough games earlier (in the season), there were some tight games and we always just had one bad inning," said Indians head coach Tim Craft.
"I kept telling the kids, even when we were 1-8, stay with us, stay with us, keep doing the small things and it's going to turn around, and they did. I give them total credit for working out of it."
The Bulldogs looked to have a feel for Du Quoin starter Brandon George in the top of the first, as Zach Ferguson drove in a run with his two-out single before Aaron Rushing stepped in and belted a two-run shot to left for a 3-0 Sparta lead.
The Indians would rally the first chance they got, storming back with a six-run bottom of the first off of Bulldogs starter Jordan Thompson.
"They exploded," said Sparta head coach Jim Jeffers. "I don't think Thompson hit his spots early on and they were sitting on it."
J.C. Davis doubled and came in on Kegan Robbins' single, then George walked and Drew Bennett was hit with a pitch to load the bases. Trent Bigham drove the ball to centerfield for a sacrifice fly, and although George was called out leaving too early from second base, Robbins crossed home on the play to cut it to 3-2.
Connor Wheeler lined a double to center with two outs for an RBI, then Baxter drove him in with a single. Jake Stanhouse punctuated the inning by belting a two-run shot to left, and suddenly it was the Indians on top 6-3.
"The kids have really been staying back and working on driving the ball and we took advantage of it today," said Craft.
George would settle in and strike out six of twelve batters after the rocky start, and the hurler left the mound after four innings with a 7-3 advantage thanks to Bennett's RBI single in the second inning.
"We knew we probably weren't going to get a full game from (George), kind of coming back on some short rest, but he gave us four solid innings," Craft said. "The first inning was a little iffy, but he did fine, just left a couple pitches up."
Robbins relieved George in the fifth, and ran into some trouble in his first inning of work as well.
Two walks, three hits and two errors in the inning resulted in three runs for the Bulldogs, and the Indians were left clinging to a one run lead. George got one of the runs right back for DHS, hitting a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-6.
"The wind was blowing out, I think it's a short porch anyway, not a very good combination," Jeffers said, "but the wind was blowing out for both teams, give all the credit to Du Quoin."
Robbins settled down and retired the side in order in the sixth before allowing a one-out single and hitting a batter in the seventh, forcing Craft to go to Bigham, who had thrown five innings in Friday's game with Nashville.
The righthander got Justin Meyerhoff to ground to second and Seth Shelvin to fly to right, and Du Quoin celebrated their first Regional title since 2009.
George got the win pitching four innings and allowing three earned runs on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts.
Every hitter in the Du Quoin lineup had at least one hit or RBI. Davis (2-4, 2 2B, 2 R), Bennett (2-2, HBP, R, RBI) and Baxter (2-3, R, RBI) each had two hits. Robbins (1-4, R, RBI), George (1-2, BB, HR), Wheeler (1-3, 2B, R, RBI), Stanhouse (1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI) and Travis Chapman (1-3) had the others.
Ferguson led the Bulldogs (8-15-1) at the dish with a 3-for-4 (2 R, RBI) day.
On Friday, Du Quoin and Nashville resumed Thursday's suspended game in the middle of the third inning with the Hornets on top 3-1 only to see the Indians tie it up in the top of the fourth inning on Wheeler's two-run homer.
Davis homered in the seventh, part of a four-run rally for the Indians, and DHS rolled into Saturday's championship 7-4.
Bigham picked up the win after taking over for George, who started the game on Thursday before the rain delay, but did not pitch on Friday.
"I think (the delay) kind of stopped the momentum for Nashville a little bit," Craft said. "They had a lot going their way, and when it got stopped right there, we were able to just relax and turn the tables in our favor."
Wheeler (2-4, HR, 4 RBI) and Bennett (2-4, 2B, RBI) each had a pair of hits for the Indians, Davis was 1-for-4 (HR, 2 RBI).
Up next for DHS is a trip to Greenville for a 4:30 p.m. Sectional semifinal on Wednesday afternoon. The Indians (15-12) will meet up with a school that might sound familiar - the same team that eliminated them in the Greenville Sectional in 2009, Edwardsville (Metro-East Lutheran). That season, the Indians rode a 13-game winning streak into the Sectional Final before the Knights knocked them out of the postseason.
Craft couldn't commit to a starting pitcher for the game just yet, but did shed some light on the topic.
Alluding to George and Bigham, Craft said: "It'll be one of two guys."
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