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BASEBALL: Murphysboro forces rematch with Pinckneyville-Du Quoin

Posted July 19, 2012 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Neither Pinckneyville-Du Quoin nor Murphysboro was facing a must-win situation in terms of advancing to this weekend's Senior American Legion 5th Division Tournament, but Post 127 did need a victory on Wednesday to keep their hopes of a 25th District title alive. Murphysboro came out and showed why they are the District's top seed, pounding out 19 hits in an 11-5 win to force a second meeting between the two teams on Thursday to decide a champion.

"(Murphysboro is) a very disciplined hitting team," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin coach Sean Patrick. "You can tell that they've got guys that take this game seriously, and it pays off for them. They're well-coached and they were ready to play."

Posts 2504 & 647 led 2-0 early after RBI singles by John Goodrich and C.J. Opp in the top of the second inning, but Murphy's offense took over from that point on.

P-DQ starter Brett Warchol was hit hard in the first four innings, surrendering a pair of earned runs in both the second and third, and pitching out of multi-hit jams in the first and fourth.

2504/647 seemed to steal the momentum away from Post 127 in the fifth with four straight base hits from Adam Barczewski, Bryant Shute, Brandon George and Kyle Mueller that gave them a 5-4 lead. Warchol then went out and retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning.

The lead didn't last for long. After a double-play killed a potential rally for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin in the top of the sixth, Murphy jumped back ahead with a three spot in the bottom half off three singles, a walk, and two errors by the 2504/647 defense.

"I'm proud of the way our guys hung in there," Patrick said. "It was just a good ball game, they hit a little better than we did, and that happens."

P-DQ managed just one hit after the fifth while Post 127 tacked on four more runs in the eighth.

"A hit here or there with runners in scoring position and if we make a couple more plays it's a different ball game, but again, that's baseball," Patrick added.

"Fortunately, we were a little expendable. We didn't have to win tonight, we wanted to, but we didn't have to, so they're going to have to come back and get us again tomorrow. Hopefully we're ready to go."

Pinckneyville-Du Quoin totaled eight hits in the game, one each from Shute (1-5, R), George (1-4, BB, R, RBI), Mueller (1-4, BB), Warchol (1-4, BB, R), Goodrich (1-3, BB, R, RBI), Opp (1-4, RBI), Barczewski (1-3, BB, R) and Nate Boss (1-2, BB, SAC).

Despite the fact that both teams know they are advancing, Patrick spoke from experience when asked how he and his players would approach the District championship game on Thursday.

"I had the opportunity to win two District championships as a player, and it's a memory that you'll take with you forever," Patrick said. "You don't play for second place, it doesn't matter what is coming up next weekend."

The finale of the 25th District Tournament is set for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch on Thursday evening at Steeleville. Patrick said he plans to go with right-hander Evan Chapman as his starting pitcher.

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