BASEBALL: Panthers fall at Benton, Harrisburg
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville had their four-game winning streak in baseball snapped Friday at Benton, and are on a two-game losing skid following their disappointing 9-2 loss at Harrisburg on Saturday.
"You want to play quality competition like we have the past two days, but you have to compete in order to make it worthwhile," said Panthers' head coach Alan Engelhardt. "I thought we did a good job of competing for the most part on Friday, but we didn't compete (against Harrisburg)."
A disastrous bottom of the fourth in Benton saw Pinckneyville cough up a 7-0 lead in the span of thirteen batters before falling 8-7.
PCHS starter Bryant Shute had allowed just two baserunners in the first three innings, but allowed five straight hits after hitting the leadoff man in the fourth. A strikeout, an error at third base, and another single followed, and suddenly the game was tied.
"Aside from one inning, I thought we outplayed Benton, but we really had a letdown in the bottom of the fourth," Engelhardt said. "Right now we are making too many mistakes on the base-paths and in the field to consistently beat the best teams in southern Illinois. I thought Bryant threw really well again for the first three innings, getting us ground balls, but he started to get balls up in the fourth and we made mistakes behind him."
Noah Hepp came in to minimize the damage, but allowed the Rangers to take the lead on Trey Garrett's two-out single before escaping.
The Panthers out-hit Benton 10-9 but left six men on base to the Rangers' four.
Hunter Queen (3-3, BB, R), Shute (2-3, BB, HR, R, 2 RBI), Hepp (1-3, 2-R HR), Dylan Hardin (1-3, R), C.J. Opp (1-3, BB, 2B, 2R, RBI), Evan Chapman (1-3, BB, 2B) and Marian Brammeier (1-4, solo HR) all hit safely for Pinckneyville.
Shute allowed five earned runs in three and two-thirds innings, surrendering eight hits while striking out three. Hepp had the other two-and-a-third, striking out four and giving up one hit.
"Noah Hepp really did a good job coming in and shutting down Benton, but the damage had already been done," Engelhardt said. "Offensively, we hit the ball well early, but we didn't take advantage of our runners late in the game, and I made a couple of mistakes not putting players into position to succeed myself."
The Harrisburg game was out of reach before the Panthers even got a runner past second base.
A leadoff single by Cameron Cummins, three fielding errors and a hit batsmen led to a quick 2-0 lead for the Bulldogs in the first inning off of Pinckneyville starter Joey Burris.
Two more PCHS errors in the second opened the door for two more runs, and then a pair of leadoff walks and a wild pitch in the third inning came back to haunt Burris and the Panthers, who trailed 7-0 after three.
"We looked like we were beaten before we ever started the game, and we never really got into it," said Engelhardt. "We didn't play very well behind Joey in the field, and he didn't help himself on the mound with control issues."
Only three of the seven runs Burris allowed were earned as the righty went three innings, giving up three hits and walking four with one strikeout. Hepp relieved with three innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits and a walk, fanning three.
Hardin (2-3, 2 RBI), Queen (1-3), Brammeier (1-2, BB, R), and Hepp (1-3, R) accounted for the Panthers' five hits against the Bulldogs.
PCHS committed nine errors while Harrisburg was mistake free.
Pinckneyville (4-3) begins SIRR Mississippi division play on Monday when they host Carterville at Rigdon Field.