BASEBALL: Murphysboro tops PD-Q, but will not be in District Tourney
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[With seeding already decided for this weekend's District Tournament, Thursday's game at Murphysboro for the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin American Legion Senior team accounted for little more than a tune-up, and for Posts 2504 & 647, it's a good thing.
Dylan Craig shut out Pinckneyville-Du Quoin for the second time in the Legion regular season as Murphy Post 127 routed to a 18-0 victory, their twentieth. It may be his last win below the college level, however, as Murphysboro's paperwork for entry to the upcoming 25th District Tournament was not received, and thus they will not participate despite being the top seed.
Game two of the doubleheader at Chep Kessel Field in Riverside Park was washed out by a late evening storm that hit the region.
"Tonight we were basically just getting swings, (trying) not burn out any of our pitching," said Posts 2504 & 647 head coach Derek Beninati. "Dylan's one of the best pitchers around, so it's good to see that going into the tournament. We're probably not going to see anyone that good for a while."
Craig was dominant, striking out ten of the twenty batters he faced on the mound in the five-inning short game. The Illinois State-signee allowed just three hits, walked two, and ran his incredible totals for the year against Posts 2504 & 647 to 13 innings pitched, 7 hits allowed, three walks and 23 strikeouts.
With the game well out of reach and Murphysboro getting to Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's starter Dylan Meier, head coach Derek Beninati granted a season-long wish of Seth Baxter to take the mound as the second baseman was handed the ball to get the last two outs of the fourth inning.
"I figured I'd give him an inning, he's been asking this year," Beninati said. "Then he really didn't want to when I told him to go in, but I just didn't want to burn out too many of our arms heading into the weekend."
Brandon George (1-2), Brandon Long (1-2) and Marian Brammeier (1-1, BB) managed hits off of the all-stater Craig, and Brammeier was the only batter from the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin starting lineup not to strike out at least once.
Posts 2504 & 647 (9-8) head to Ray Fosse Park in Marion on Friday at 5:00 p.m. to take on Orient in the first round of the American Legion 25th District Tournament.
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