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BASEBALL: Run ends for No. 2 Juniors

Posted July 19, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's #2 Junior American Legion team fell just short of being the surprise story of the 25th District's Junior tournament, losing out to Metropolis Post 306 on Monday night 6-3 to bring their season to an end.

The No. 2's, the tournament's youngest team, had beaten Metropolis 5-2 on Saturday, but couldn't repeat the feat with a chance to advance to the Division Tournament on the line Monday evening.

"(Our No. 2's) are the youngest team over here, they put two impressive games in the books, and they fought hard in this one," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin #2 head coach Dave Sanders. "A few mistakes got us, ended up biting us pretty good, but they battled. For a young group I think it's outstanding, I'm proud of them."

Caleb Dahn singled and scored in the first inning, then Chase Lazenby walked and scored in the second as P'ville-Du Quoin went ahead 2-1.

Metropolis fought back in the fourth, taking a 3-2 lead after three hits in the inning, but Posts 2504 & 647 tied the game up in the top of the fifth when Dahn doubled in Brian Taylor.

Lazenby, the starting pitcher for P-DQ, retired six batters in a row in the second and third innings before running into jams in each of the last three frames of the game and finished with six hits and three walks allowed in six innings of work with one strikeout.

Post 306 regained the lead on a walk and an error in the fifth, then added a pair of insurance tallies in the sixth on a squeeze play and a wild pitch. Taylor got on with a one-out double in the seventh for Posts 2504 & 647, but was left stranded after the final two hitters were retired.

"Give (Metropolis) credit, they did what they had to do," Sanders said. "They got the pitches they needed."

Taylor (2-4, R, 2B), Dahn (2-4, R), Colton Nelson (1-2, R, SAC), Lucas Carter (1-3) and Brayden Cowley (1-2) each had hits for 2504/647.

While the No. 2 Juniors are finished, the P'ville-Du Quoin No. 1 team still has plenty of work to do, beginning with facing the same Metropolis team on Tuesday night for the championship of the 25th District. First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m., with an if-needed game two slated for 7:30 p.m.

Though their 2011 season is over, every member of the No. 2 squad is eligible for Junior Legion baseball again next summer, something Perry County baseball fans can look forward to seeing.

"They'll all be back," Sanders said. "I told the Du Quoin kids to bring some friends with them and we'll keep our Pinckneyville Juniors going and it should be fun again next year."

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