Du Quoin hangs on late to top rival Pinckneyville, 7-6
Du Quoin hung on once again in the second stint of the Perry County rivalry with Pinckneyville as Braden Lee was able to get the final two outs with the tying and winning runs on second and third to seal a 7-6 victory.<br />In a relocated game due to weather, Du Quoin was able to break a 3-3 tie in the top of the seventh with four runs. <br />Alex Zimmerman came up with a big two-out RBI single to put the go-ahead run across the board. Hank Stewart followed up with a single of his own and Tevin Lee provided the rest of the insurance, drilling a three-run home run over the right-center field wall, his fifth of the season. <br />"Alex has had good good at bats all year – he just kind of keeps on plugging," Du Quoin head coach Tim Craft said. "The bottom of our lineup (was big for us today). Blaine had a couple of hits, Will had a big hit and got on base one other time. That's what we need those guys down there in the order to do. We need them to get on base, move the lineup through so we can get (guys like) Tevin and our bigger guys up at the plate."<br />But, Pinckneyville came back in the bottom of the seventh with a strong comeback effort. <br />Jordan Edwards who ended up with the win reached the pitch count limit after allowing a leadoff single, forcing Craft to bring in Bryzn Withcer on in relief. <br />"He was over the number, so he couldn't go another batter," Craft said. "The second inning got him an extra thirty pitches, (but) it was it is. He did a good job of coming back after that bad inning and getting us deep into the game." <br />Ethan Bowen followed up with a single of his own and Miles Chandler came up with an RBI fielders choice an at bat later to cut the Indian lead to 7-4.<br />Kyle Luke continued the momentum with a single and Austin Alspach nearly tied the game up, drilling a pitch off the right-center field fence that ended up as an RBI single to cut the deficit to 7-5. <br />Lee came in relief after that and allowed an RBI double to Brian Kling, but was able to settle down and get the final two outs to help his team hang for the win. <br />"He (Lee) has made pitches for us for three years now so we were pretty confident with him," Craft said. "We were confident with Bryzn (too), they just hit a couple balls off of him and we Braden ready to roll."<br />For Pinckneyville, it was the second one-run loss to the Indians, having dropped the first game 6-5 in similar fashion, coming up just short of a late comeback. <br />"You can't take anything away from what they (Du Quoin) did there (in the top of the seventh inning)," Shepard said. "They got the right kid up in the right situation and he hit it a long way. We were probably a foot away from the same thing happening with a three-run home run to tie it back up again. That's just the way it happens sometimes."<br />The Panthers collected their other three runs in the third inning off Edwards, capitalizing on a trio of walks with an RBI bunt, sacrifice fly and single. <br />The Indians scored two in the first two innings on an RBI single and walk from T. Lee in the first and second, respectively. Lee finished the game with a team-high five RBI's. Du Quoin tied the game at three with an RBI single form Blaine Bradley in the fifth. <br />With the win, Du Quoin improves to 11-8 on the season, while Pinckneyville drops to 6-12. <br />The Indians will resume action at Sparta Tuesday (today) at 4:30 p.m., while the Panthers will play host to Anna-Jonesboro at 4:30 p.m.