BASEBALL: Pinckneyville-Du Quoin advances to District title game
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[By virtue of hosting the Senior American Legion 5th Division Baseball Tournament this weekend at Rigdon Field, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin already knew they were moving on from the 25th District Tournament taking place in Steeleville. Posts 2504 & 647 went ahead and earned their way there on Tuesday, knocking off Sparta 6-3 to claim the winner's bracket and move on to the championship on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
Left-hander Kyle Mueller tossed the second complete game of the tournament for P-DQ, allowing six hits, two walks and a hit batter to go along with eight strikeouts in picking up the victory.
"Going back to Evan Chapman's complete game on Saturday, to get two complete games out of guys that haven't thrown nine full innings since last summer is just awesome," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin head coach Sean Patrick. "I'm really proud of the way they're competing."
"(Mueller) is a fierce competitor, I'm learning that about him. I can't imagine what he does on the golf course, but if he competes on the golf course like he does on the baseball field, I think he'll be very good at whatever he does."
A Nashville product, Mueller has accepted a golf scholarship to Kaskaskia College beginning in the fall.
Mueller and P-DQ fell behind 1-0 in the top of the third after a one-out walk to Elliott French was followed by a double from Post 396 starting pitcher Zach Seibold.
2504/647 claimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs on an overthrow as Nate Boss reached on the error with one out in the frame. Travis Chapman later brought Boss in with a single and Pinckneyville-Du Quoin led 3-1.
"Their pitcher did a great job to keep us off-balance today, it seemed like he was moving some things on the outside part of the plate that we weren't wanting to hit the other way," said Patrick. "He did a good job early, unfortunately for him, just like against Marion the other day, he made the throwing error that kind of opened things up for us."
Bryant Shute doubled with one down in the sixth and came in on a single from Brandon George, who led P-DQ at the plate against Sparta with four hits.
"Traditionally you put a guy who can bunt in the two hole, we put a guy who can hit it to the fence in the two hole," Patrick said. "We know that Shute is going to find his way on base, to have a guy like Brandon to put in the two hole that we know we can move him around a little bit, that's exciting."
Mueller may have been wearing down on the mound in the eighth, giving up a pair of runs on three hits, but he didn't show signs of fatigue rounding the bases in the bottom of the inning as his single got past the right fielder for a three-base error. George had singled and scored in front of Mueller on the play, which gave Pinckneyville-Du Quoin their 6-3 advantage.
Mueller pitched around an error and a walk in the ninth to finish off the victory.
2504/647's offense continued to flourish in the tournament racking up fourteen total hits, all from the first seven batters in the lineup. George (4-5, R, RBI), Shute (1-5, 2B, R), Mueller (2-5, 2 R), Boss (2-4, R, RBI), T. Chapman (2-4, RBI), Brett Warchol (2-5, R) and John Goodrich (1-4) each hit safely against Sparta.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin will meet the winner of the loser's bracket on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
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