BASEBALL: P'ville-Du Quoin #1 Juniors in winners' bracket final after beating Steeleville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Pinckneyville-Du Quoin Junior American Legion #1 team is now a single victory away from advancing to the Division Tournament after squeaking out a 3-2 win over Steeleville on Monday.
Joey Burris struggled a bit with command, walking seven, but allowed just two earned runs on three hits in six innings on the mound for the win. A.J. Smith finished off the game with a scoreless seventh for the save as Posts 2504 & 647 moved on in the winners' bracket of the 25th District Tournament taking place in Steeleville.
"I thought both guys threw well," said 2504/647 coach Alan Engelhardt. "They didn't really hit Joey (Burris) for six innings, they hit a couple squibbers, the only reason they scored is because we had three walks that inning."
P-DQ led 1-0 in the top of the third when those three walks bit Burris and Pinckneyvile-Du Quoin on a two-out, two-RBI Steeleville double.
Brian Taylor singled and scored in the third to tie the game, then just like it had in the second inning, some small ball gave Pinckneyville-Du Quoin the lead in the fourth.
Dalton Bigham singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, then Cole Bigham bunted him to second. Nolan Luke went down swinging for the second out, but Brendon Shepard came through with a double for the go-ahead RBI.
"Two of our three runs were because Dalton Bigham did a great job leading off the inning, Cole Bigham did a great job bunting him over to second, and we found a way to hit him home," Engelhardt said.
"We have good balance up and down our order, Justyn Rushing in the eight hole today had a nice single through the left side and they threw Shepard out at the plate. That's a nice luxury to have down in the eight hole, and Kody Hess was on base in the nine hole. Whenever you have some depth in your lineup it helps, that's for sure."
The well-pitched game featured just seven total hits. Taylor (1-3), D. Bigham (1-2, BB), Shepard (1-3, 2B) and Rushing (1-2) accounted for the four by Pinckneyville-Du Quoin.
Burris was pitching on short notice after scheduled starter Caleb Dahn was unable to go.
"(Dahn) started warming up and wasn't feeling well, so we made a quick flip and Joey did a great job and came in ready to go," Engelhardt said. "I think he overmatched them a little bit, and then A.J. came in and overmatched them a little bit there in the seventh inning too."
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin moves on to the championship of the winners' bracket with first pitch scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday at the Harold Harmsen Field of Dreams.
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