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BASEBALL: Indians crush Panthers in 16-6 short game

Posted April 09, 2012 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A ten-run second inning by Du Quoin helped the Indians make short work of Pinckneyville on Monday, as Nate Boss drove in five runs in DHS's 16-6 five-inning victory over the Panthers at Rigdon Field.

"We knew going in we were going to have to play a really good game against Pinckneyville, because they are a really good team," said Indians head baseball coach Tim Craft. "The kids did what we asked, they stayed patient at the plate and really forced (Pinckneyville's) pitchers to throw strikes. When they did, we did a really good job of staying back and hitting some line drives."

PCHS committed five errors in the game that accounted for four unearned runs crossing the plate. The rest of the damage was done by Du Quoin against the four pitchers used by Panthers who combined for five innings pitched, sixteen hits allowed, seven walks and just one strikeout.

"When you committ five errors, when you walk seven guys, and whenever you're constantly throwing in 2-1, 3-1 counts, other people are going to pound you," said Panthers head coach Alan Engelhardt. "That's what happened today, we were flat bad. Not a whole lot of bright spots today."

The Panthers jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first when Nolan Luke reached on an error and later scored when C.J. Opp drew a bases-loaded walk off of Indians starter Austin Mansker. Justyn Rushing followed with a grounder to third that brought in Bryant Shute (HBP).

Pinckneyville held onto the lead for just three batters after making their third out in the first. Camdon Mercier led off the top of the second with a solo homer, then Garrett Dorsey and Jon Boss both doubled to tie the game. Jonah Spencer walked, then Mansker singled to bring in Boss to put the Indians on top.

An error allowed Brenden Fred to reach and advance all the way to third base while Mansker and Spencer came in, then Nate Boss singled home Fred. Three of the next four batters drew walks before Spencer reached on an error to extend the inning for Mansker's two-out double, making it 10-2 Du Quoin.

"Early on (this season) we kept getting runners on base, and we wouldn't do little things to drive them in," said Craft. "We really talked about two-out RBIs and coming through with two outs, and the kids have really kind of taken that to heart the last few games."

The Panthers had some fight left in them as Marian Brammeier and Hunter Queen led off their half of the second with hits, then Dylan Hardin reached on an E-6 and Shute had a sacrifice fly to make it 10-5.

J. Boss, Fred and N. Boss all doubled in the fourth for DHS, however, and the Indians poured it on with four runs in the inning and two more in the fifth to cut the game short.

"We left seven guys on base and we ran ourselves out of two innings that would have been another couple guys on base," Engelhardt said. "We have not hit well with runners in scoring position all year and it happened again today. We've got some upperclassmen who are playing like they're freshmen and sophomores, guys who have been here a while, and until they figure it out we're not going to have success."

Mansker allowed three earned runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts to pick up the complete game win on the hill.

"Austin did a good job," said Craft. "He's had some tough games he's had to throw. We did a good job of scoring runs for him this time, the last few times he's thrown we didn't. We made a few defensive boo-boos that probably hurt a little bit, but I think he did a pretty good job against a good team."

N. Boss (3-5, 2B, 2 R, 5 RBI), J. Boss (3-4, 2 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI), Mansker (3-4, 2B, BB, 3 R, 2 RBI) and Mercier (3-3, HR, BB, 2 R, RBI) each had three hits for the Indians. Dorsey (2-3, 2B, BB, 2 R, RBI), Fred (1-4, 2B, BB, 2 R, RBI) and Camden Youngman (1-4, BB, R) also hit safely.

For the Panthers, Joey Burris (3-3) had three singles and Queen (2-3, R) had a pair of doubles to lead the way offensively. Opp (1-2, BB, RBI), Brammeier (1-3, R), Shute (1-1, 3B, HBP, SAC, 2 R, RBI) and Noah Hepp (1-2) had the other hits.

One bit of good news for the Panthers on Monday was that Evan Chapman threw a 72-pitch side session as he makes his way back from a dislocated rib.

"He said he threw without pain, so we will start looking at moving him up and getting him into a game," said Engelhardt.

The Panthers (5-7, 0-3) will try to get their elusive first Mississippi Division win at Sparta on Tuesday against the team that eliminated them in their first game of last year's Regional tournament. PCHS travels to Carterville on Friday.

Du Quoin (7-6, 2-2) hosts Nashville Tuesday and Anna-Jonesboro on Friday.

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