BASEBALL: Youngman's double sends Sparta home, Indians advance
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After an error in the top of the seventh allowed Sparta to send the game to extra innings tied at 1-1, Du Quoin got a leadoff single from Nate Boss and a game-winning RBI double from Camden Youngman in the bottom of the eighth to walk off with a 2-1 victory in Thursday's Regional Semifinal at The Ballpark at DHS.
Brenden Fred tossed seven spectacular innings for Du Quoin, allowing just four hits and three walks before Austin Mansker came on in the eighth to pick up the win with two strikeouts and a fly ball to right after a leadoff walk.
"Brenden's been good all year, especially the last three or four weeks," said Indians' head baseball coach Tim Craft. "He's really, really battled hard on the mound for us, he gives us a good chance to win. He's a good kid and a good athlete."
The Indians' first run was a bit of a gift - Dylan Pyron raced home from third on a wild throw in the bottom of the fifth inning for the ball game's first run, one that stuck in the mind of Sparta coach Jim Jeffers after the loss.
"We just didn't execute a couple of sac bunts and they did," Jeffers said. "We had an error on an overthrow at third with two outs, I don't know why we were worried about the runner, but we were. That's baseball, just kids being kids."
Both teams had their opportunities prior to Du Quoin breaking through in the fifth - each stranded four runners on base in the first four innings.
The Bulldogs were down to their final out in the top of the seventh, trailing 1-0 when Shaun Rogers singled to put two men on for Sparta's most dangerous hitter - Darius Jackson.
Craft elected to give Jackson the intentional free pass to load the bases, then Fred got the ground ball he was looking for from Elliot French. Boss couldn't get a handle on it near second base, however, and Aaron Rushing raced home to tie the game.
Boss got his shot at redemption in the eighth and took advantage, singling to left and advancing to second on a wild pitch before Youngman brought him home for the win.
"(Boss) did a good job of just forgetting about (the error), coming up and getting on base," Craft said.
"We had just talked before the inning, 'do we bunt with (Youngman) if someone gets on base?' He'd had three really good at-bats where he'd hit the ball hard, so we decided to just let him go."
As good as Fred and Mansker were on the hill for DHS, Seth Shelvin equalled them for the most part for the Bulldogs. Shelvin gave up just six hits and threw every pitch for Sparta on Thursday, walking three and striking out three.
"We've come to expect that from him," Jeffers said of his starter. "It was a 2-1 ballgame against these guys last time, the same type of ball game. I think the fans got their money's worth today."
Boss (2-2, 2B, 2 BB, R), Fred (1-4), Youngman (1-4, 2B, GW RBI), Pyron (1-3, R) and Camdon Mercier (1-2, SAC) had hits for the Indians. Jackson (1-2, 2 BB), French (1-3, BB), Rogers (1-3) and Justin Meyerhoff (1-4) hit safely for the Bulldogs.
Du Quoin (18-14) will meet top-seeded Benton (30-6) on Saturday at 11:00 at The Ballpark to decide the Class 2A Regional championship. The winner moves on to the Vandalia Sectional which begins on Wednesday, May 23.
Benton won both regular season meetings between the two teams, taking the season opener for both squads 10-9 and a late April meeting 11-7.
"There's going to be a lot more intensity in this game coming up than there was in the regular season games," Craft said. "We played them well both times that we played them. Obviously they're a good team and they can hit. If we don't show up and field the ball and put a lot of runners on base, we're going to be in trouble."
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