BASEBALL: Top third of the order carries Pinckneyville-Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The top three hitters in the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin lineup combined for six of 2504/647's ten hits against Sparta on Tuesday, giving starting pitcher Evan Chapman enough offense for a 7-5 victory at Rigdon Field in Senior American Legion District 25 action.
Bryant Shute (2-4), Adam Barczewski (2-4, 2 2B) and Kyle Mueller (2-4, 2B) each had a pair of hits in the game and Brandon George (1-2, HR, BB) added a solo home run in the fourth inning.
After a leadoff walk, Chapman was sharp in the early-going before a pair of errors by the defense in the top of the second opened the door for a three-run inning for Sparta. A pair of singles in the third made it 4-0 in favor of Post 396.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the third starting with Marian Brammeier reaching base on an E-5. Shute, Barczewski and Mueller all followed with hits to trim the deficit to 4-3.
Chapman settled in after giving up a solo homer to Kyle Sinn in the top of the fourth, sending down the next nine batters in order and allowing just one hit the rest of the way.
George's homer made it 5-4, then in the fifth, Brammeier got things going again with a leadoff single. Barczewski, Mueller, Brett Warchol and C.J. Opp then strung together four straight hits with one out to give 2504/647 the lead for good.
Chapman tossed all seven innings, allowed six hits and three walks while fanning ten. Three of his five runs allowed were earned.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin also won the non-District-play second game by the score of 7-5 in seven innings.
2504/647's Senior squad travels to Murphysboro on Thursday (5:00) and Carrier Mills on Friday (6:00).
Both Junior teams are in action on Wednesday with the #1s heading to Sparta (5:30) and the #2s hosting Trico (5:00).
<element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[</group><group id="CE3B0FBC-2745-4408-BBB8-255971836193" type="seoLabels"><seoLabels></seoLabels></group><