BASEBALL: 2504/647 hangs on against Steeleville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville-Du Quoin left-hander C.J. Opp was perfect through the first ten batters of Monday's Senior American Legion baseball matchup with Steeleville and left the game with 2504/647 up 9-0. His relief - and the defense behind them - made things interesting in the sixth and seventh innings, but P-DQ held on for a 9-6 victory at the Harold Hattie Harmsen Field of Dreams in Steeleville.
Opp allowed just three hits over his five innings on the hill and struck out nine for the win, adding a pair of RBI at the plate.
The two Nashville products on the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin co-op team, Brett Warchol and Kyle Mueller, both drove in runs in the top of the first to give Posts 2504 & 647 a 2-0 lead. P-DQ would bat around in the second, scoring on another RBI single from Warchol and adding two runs on Opp's double moments later.
Warchol struck again in the fourth, driving in a run for the third straight at-bat with a double to bring in Kegan Robbins, who led off the inning with a single. Travis Chapman capped off a four-run inning for 2504/647 by driving in Warchol with a base hit that made it 9-0.
Opp struck out six of the first ten hitters he saw including four in a row. He also snagged a come-backer in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded and threw to first to escape the jam before exiting.
T. Chapman didn't fare too well in his inning of relief, giving up a single followed by back-to-back home runs that trimmed Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's lead to six.
Warchol wasn't a whole lot better on the mound in the seventh. An error put the leadoff man on, then the next two batters both hit safely. Before the inning was over with, Steeleville brought the tying run to the dish but couldn't get a big hit from the bottom third of the order.
Warchol's 3-for-4, 3 RBI day at the plate led 2504/647 offensively. Robbins (1-4, BB, R), Opp (1-3, 2 RBI), Mueller (1-4, BB, RBI), T. Chapman (1-3, BB, R, 2 RBI), Bryant Shute (1-3, 2 R), Adam Barczewski (1-2, BB, 3 R), Brandon George (1-3, BB, R) and Chaz Ruffino (1-2) also hit safely.
In lieu of a second game, the two teams extended game one by two innings where P-DQ added on with an RBI single by Mueller, who also tossed a scoreless eighth.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin hosts Sparta on Tuesday for a 5:00 p.m. doubleheader.
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