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BASEBALL: Losses to Trico, Orient end season for P-DQ Jr. #2 team

Posted July 23, 2012 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A season of facing bigger, older, and tougher competition came to an end for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's #2 Junior American Legion squad over the weekend at the 25th District Tournament in Steeleville with Posts 2504 & 647 falling to Trico on Saturday 15-11 and to Orient on Sunday 9-1.

2504/647 fell behind 11-0 in the first inning to Trico before a valiant comeback effort ran out of gas, then the #2 juniors again found themselves in an early hole against Orient after a five-run first.

"You want to get better, typically this team is younger and smaller, so you want to learn the speed of the game and learn how to make longer throws, that sort of thing," said P-DQ coach Alan Engelhardt. "I think we came a long way (this season)."

Down 9-1 in the bottom of the sixth against Orient, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin had a shot to get back into the game with the bases loaded and two outs, but Caulden Lazenby's well-hit line drive was tracked down in centerfield to retire the side. 2504/647 went down in order in the seventh.

"Even today losing 9-1, you have a couple of chances where if you escape one inning, it's still 5-1 and if (Lazenby's ball) gets down in the outfield that's three more runs, their centerfielder made a heck of a catch on it," Engelhardt said.

Miles Chander (1-4), Justin Bauersachs (1-4, 2B), Dalton Gant (1-2, HBP), Hayden Carter (1-3) and Josh Diercks (1-3) had hits against Orient for P-DQ.

Lazenby (1-3, 2 BB), Chandler (1-4), Carter 2-3, BB), Diercks (1-4), Dylan Carns (2-4, 2B) and Thomas Huggins (1-4) hit safely in the loss to Trico on Saturday.

Engelhardt pointed to his first five hitters from Sunday's lineup as being among those he'd been most impressed with this summer.

"The thing that stands out to me is what Dalton Gant was doing all day today, how hard he played," said Engelhardt. "You can have all the ability in the world, but unless you figure out how to play hard like that, it's just not going to go anywhere. I think that's a big thing right there."

"Caulden Lazenby, doing some of the things he did at the top of the order, it's been a while since we've had a fast, left-handed, lead-off type guy so I think he really made some strides. If you look at our 2-3-4 (hitters) today, they're all going to be eighth graders. Miles Chandler hit the ball well all summer, Dylan Carns really came around this summer, and Justin Bauersachs hit the ball well this summer, so that's three kids for District #50 to be looking forward to be getting here in the fall."

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