BASEBALL: Metropolis silenced, but Pinckneyville-Du Quoin ousted
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[When Metropolis base runner Cordan Hight plowed into Travis Chapman at home plate last Tuesday in Steeleville to hand the Junior American Legion 25th District Tournament to Pinckneyville-Du Quoin after Hight's ejection led to a forfeit in the fifth inning, both teams knew their paths might cross again at the 5th Division Tournament this week in Alton.
After each squad lost their opening round games, Metropolis knocked off Teutopolis on Sunday evening to set up Monday's 3:00 p.m. rematch. This time the game went the distance, and then some, with Pinckneyville-Du Quoin putting two runs on the board in the top of the ninth to squeak out a 3-1 extra-inning victory and remain in the hunt for the Division championship.
The victory sent 2504/647 into the losers' bracket semifinal against Alton #2 at 8:00 p.m., but an injury to Dylan Hardin in the first inning left P'ville-Du Quoin short on available pitchers and they were knocked out of the tournament 10-0.
Evan Chapman threw a nine-inning complete game against Post 306 and surrendered just a pair of hits, but trailed 1-0 until T. Chapman's RBI triple in the top of the seventh. With the game still knotted at 1-1 in the top of the ninth, Joey Burris, who was in line for the loss against Metropolis last Tuesday before Hight's ejection, took advantage of his opportunity to be a hero. Burris doubled to send John Goodrich across with the go-ahead run, then E. Chapman touched home with an insurance tally.
"It starts and ends with what Evan did on the mound," said 2504/647 head coach Alan Engelhardt. "That was gutsy and unbelievable, a tremendous job battling. He was cramping out there and he fought through it, and that's guts."
An error led to an unearned run in the third inning for Metropolis, but an energized Post 306 didn't get a runner past first base after the fourth inning. E. Chapman cruised along all day until he started to suffer cramping in his right leg during the seventh, but the pain didn't seem to bother him too much, allowing just a single after flaring up.
"My off-speed stuff really wasn't working, but I had good defense and just kept the ball in the infield pretty much every time," E. Chapman said. "We were ready for them today."
E. Chapman singled with one out in the top of the seventh, and with two gone, T. Chapman lined a triple into the gap to tie the game off of Post 306 starter Josh Wetzel.
Goodrich walked off of reliever Aaron Jones to lead off the ninth and put the go-ahead run on base. E. Chapman attempted to sacrifice bunt him to second, but ended up putting the ball in the perfect spot on the right side of the infield to put two on with nobody out instead. Burris, who doubled off the wall in the second inning, smoked one to relatively the same spot to bring in the second and third runs for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin.
"He gashed that, and he gashed another one earlier, Joey is a very talented kid," Engelhardt said. "He wasn't very happy with himself after the way he threw the last time against Metropolis, so he came out with maybe a little chip on his shoulder and showed what he can do."
Wetzel pitched well in defeat for Post 306, allowing one run, nine hits and striking out four in eight innings of work. E. Chapman struck out seven and didn't walk or hit a batter in his nine-inning two-hitter.
E. Chapman (2-4, 2 R), Burris (2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and Hardin (2-5) each had two hits for 2504/647. T. Chapman (1-3, 3B, BB, RBI), Zach Phillips (1-2), Dustin VanMeter (1-1, BB) and Hunter Queen (1-3, SAC) also had hits.
"Hitting is always a confidence thing, and we hadn't hit well for two straight games and we weren't hitting well to start this game," Engelhardt said. "Especially the first three innings, I think we had runners in scoring position and couldn't get that big hit. Well, after Travis got that hit (in the seventh), now all of a sudden we've relaxed a little bit, and that last inning I thought we really started hitting the ball."
The victory meant Posts 2504 & 647 had another game to play on Monday night, taking on Alton (#2) in the 8:00 p.m. losers' bracket semifinal.
Hardin was the starter for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin, but suffered a knee injury after just two-thirds of an inning and had to exit the game. Burris and Luke Chapman relieved, but neither could stop Alton's offense from short-gaming 2504/647 after five innings.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's #1 Junior team will now sit and wait until Thursday, when they will begin play in the American Legion State Tournament as a result of being the event's host.
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