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BASEBALL: Bethalto eliminates Pinckneyville-Du Quoin from Jr. Division Tournament

Posted July 31, 2012 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville-Du Quoin didn't get their first hit until the fifth inning and never led in their 3-1 loss to Bethalto on Monday, knocking Posts 2504 & 647 out of the Junior American Legion 5th Division Tournament and closing out their 31-win season.

2504/647 got a solid performance on the mound by left-hander Cole Bigham, who went the distance and gave up six hits, four walks and a hit batter while striking out four Stars. Post 214 starter Ben Walker, however, was just a little better. Walker fanned nine while giving up five hits and one HBP.

"Their pitcher was good, he threw a lot of strikes," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin coach Tyler Bullock. "That was our biggest problem starting off, we did not want to swing at the first pitch. I think he threw about 90% first pitch fastballs. We just did not get the hang of it until about the fifth or sixth inning."

C. Bigham got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the first and got a double play to erase an error in the second before a two-out walk bit him in the third. Nicholas Cafazza drew the pass, stole second, then scored on a base hit by Walker to put Bethalto up 1-0.

Cafazza, who scored all three of the Stars runs, singled and came in on Zachary Klaustermeier's single in the fifth to make it 2-0.

Pinckneyville-Du Quoin got their first hit of the ballgame in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff single by Nolan Luke. They got their first run when the next batter, Brendon Shepard, doubled to bring in Luke and cut the lead in half.

C. Bigham retired five straight batters into the top of the seventh, but then walked Cafazza again with one down. Klaustermeier delivered his second RBI on a double, then made the third out trying to take an extra base.

"(Cole Bigham) went a solid six, I think he started to wear down a little bit in the seventh," Bullock said, "but he got through it."

"It's hard to chalk a loss up to giving up three runs, definitely bring that back on our offense, we did not do the job there. It definitely was a pitcher's duel."

Singles by Jacob Louis and Justyn Rushing put the tying runs on base for 2504/647 in the bottom of the inning, but the potential rally was silenced with a strikeout and an infield pop-up.

Luke (1-2, HBP, R), Shepard (1-3, 2B, RBI), Louis (1-3), Rushing (1-3) and Dalton Bigham (1-3) accounted for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's hitting.

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