BASEBALL: Belleville pounds 2504/647 Juniors
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville-Du Quoin Posts 2504 & 647 will be moving on to the Junior American Legion State Tournament later this week in Pinckneyville regardless of their finish at the Division Tournament, and on Sunday afternoon against Belleville, they looked like a team with nothing to play for.
Belleville Post #58 jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then tacked on in the fifth and sixth for an 11-1 short-game victory over 2504/647, knocking P'ville-Du Quoin into the losers' bracket where they will have to win twice on Monday to have a shot at the Division championship.
"I think part of the problem is that we know we're going on, and our effort the last two games has been atrocious," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin head coach Alan Engelhardt. "That's one thing that, no matter what, people can't take away from you, is how hard you play. We certainly have not played very hard the last two games and that's disappointing."
2504/647's last game was a victory, but they were trailing 7-1 to Metropolis when an ejection ran Post 306 out of players to force a forfeit.
"We talked about it in the huddle that everybody else here is probably saying 'the only reason they're moving on is because they're hosting state,' and from the looks of it they're right, right now," Engelhardt said.
"We've got to have enough pride to say 'we deserve to be moving on, we deserve to be playing with these teams' and today we didn't have a whole lot of pride."
C.J. Opp plunked Matt Soucy to start the game, a possible omen for the rough inning that would follow. Post #58 strung together five straight hits including a double from Ryan Marcum to move ahead 5-0 before 2504/647 even came to bat.
John Goodrich reached on an error and scored on Travis Chapman's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to make it 5-1, and Opp settled in and allowed just one hit over his next three innings of work.
In the fifth, however, the hit parade returned for Bellevile, as Austin Bevenue, Marcum and Ty Matzenbacher all doubled to chase Opp from the mound in favor of Joey Burris, who inherited the 8-1 deficit.
The offense just wasn't there for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin when they needed it. 2504/647 stranded seven base runners, at least one in every inning after the first, and did not record a hit in an RBI situation.
Dylan Hardin (2-3) and Goodrich (2-3, R) led the offense with two hits apiece. Burris (1-3) and Evan Chapman (1-3) also hit safely.
Opp went the first four and two-thirds allowing nine hits and two walks to go along with four strikeouts. Burris took over for the last four outs, giving up three hits and a walk. Alex Sandheinrich picked up the win on the hill for Belleville Post #58.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin awaits the winner of Sunday night's 8:00 p.m. game between Teutopolis and Metropolis, whom they will meet at 3:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon in an elimination game. The winner moves on to the 8:00 p.m. game to meet the winner of Breese and Alton.
Evan Chapman will take the hill for 2504/647 in the must-win 3:00 p.m. game.
"Whoever we face tomorrow, it'll be their third game, maybe they'll be down a little on pitching, and we're throwing our best, so you let the cards fall where they may," Engelhardt said. "We need to win that first one and give ourselves a chance to play again."
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