Du Quoin baseball falls to Carterville in conference opener
DU QUOIN - Carterville scored the game's first six runs and although Du Quoin made a late charge the Lions prevailed 9-6 in the SIRR Mississippi Division opener Monday.
Du Quoin dropped to 4-3 overall with the loss that came on a miserable afternoon in terms of weather.
Carterville jumped on the board with two runs in the first inning as Bryce Anderson doubled and Cam Hall and Cole Sizmore followed with singles against Du Quoin starter Hank Stewart.
The lead grew to 4-0 in the fourth when Keaton Petska singled and scored on a hit by Julian Harshbarger before Sizemore knocked in another run.
"We had a slow start and they didn't," said Du Quoin coach Kyle Geiger. "They took what they were given. They hit the gaps and hit down the line. They came out ready to hit and we didn't. We've got to make an adjustment offensively."
In the fifth, the Lions added two more after first baseman Tevin Lee was charged an error on a collision that made him drop the ball. Two batters later, Luke Andersen doubled in a run and Harshbarger plated another.
Stewart threw 99 pitches in 4-2/3 innings and gave up seven hits and six runs, one of them being unearned. The senior struck out four.
"Hank did what he had to do," Geiger said. "We had our opportunities to make some plays and gave away a couple outs. They had to play in the same weather as we did. Hank did his job. We just didn't get it done offensively."
The Lions added three runs in the sixth against freshman reliever Slade West that turned out to be the difference. Sizemore, Brock Tuttle and Peter Baker had key hits in that rally.
Sizemore finished the day 4-for-5 and Harshbarger, the winning pitcher, had three hits.
Du Quoin plated four runs in the fifth inning with the help of a bases-loaded outfield error that brought in three runs. And the error was preceded by three walks, an error and a fielder's choice.
The Indians' only hit to that point was a single by Owen Bradley in the fourth. Bradley also singled in the seventh.
In the sixth, West poked a double and Will Woodside singled before Ryan Myers and Alex Zimmerman both drove in runs with hits.
"We've played seven games and we have to be able to adjust, every at-bat, every game," Geiger said. "We have kids that aren't making the adjustments they need to be.
"It was nice to get a couple of runs on the board late in the game but we have to do that coming out in the first couple of innings and not wait that late."
Du Quoin was scheduled to host Pinckneyville on Tuesday, although as of the Call's press deadline that was highly doubtful. The rest of the week's schedule has a home game against Freeburg on Wednesday and a road trip to Sparta on Thursday.