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BASEBALL: Pinckneyville-Du Quoin Junior Legion 3rd at State

Posted August 01, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Of the 70 Junior American Legion baseball teams in Illinois, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin Posts 2504 & 647 finished in third place after being knocked out of the 2011 State Tournament on Saturday by eventual champion Limestone Post 979 (Bartonville) 8-5.

After splitting a pair of games on the tournament's opening day last Thursday, 2504/647 knocked off defending champ Champaign 5-4 and Belleville 4-2 on Sunday to advance into the losers' bracket final against Limestone, but ran out of gas in their fifth game in a 72-hour span while playing in scorching summer temperatures all three days.

"We didn't play with a whole lot of energy the last couple of weekends because we knew we were moving on, so it looked like we didn't belong (in the state tournament)," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin head coach Alan Engelhardt. "This weekend we showed up and played how we are capable."

Winners of the 25th District, 2504/647 won just one of three games at the 5th Division Tournament in Alton last week, yet advanced on as the hosts of the State Tournament at Rigdon Field in Pinckneyville. Wins over Danville, Champaign and Belleville meant Pinckneyville-Du Quoin played each of the other five teams in the event, losing only to the two finalists.

"I hope that all these kids will come back and play in our Senior Legion program next year, and we've got a couple that can still play Junior for us," Engelhardt said. "Hopefully in high school ball, and in the Legion program next summer, we come back and our swings just keep getting better."

When P'ville-Du Quoin and Limestone took the field Saturday for the 11:00 a.m. losers' bracket final, it was 2504/647's fifth game since Thursday at 9:00 a.m., with all five games taking place before the sun had set. Post 979 was playing just their third game after falling to Alton in the winners' bracket final the previous afternoon.

With a limited supply of arms and missing their starting catcher, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin fell behind early and had a seventh-inning rally cut off with the tying run at the plate as Limestone moved on to the State Championship game with an 8-5 victory. Post 979 starter Dylan Weaver keep the ball on the ground all day and allowed just six hits for the win.

"(Weaver) did a good job, but we gave away some at-bats where we were content to say 'well, i'll just put it in play and see what happens,' and they're going to field it, they're a quality team," said Engelhardt. "We told (our players) that in the major leagues, 80% of ground balls are outs, and the higher the level of play, the closer you get to that percentage."

Joey Burris got the start for P-DQ after picking up a save on Friday against Belleville, but couldn't duplicate his success and allowed Post 979 to build a 4-1 lead through three innings. Burris would yield to Justin Bumann in the fourth inning, but before Bumann settled down and pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth, Limestone had racked up ten hits in the game and led 8-1.

Weaver finally began to tire in the seventh, walking Bumann (who scored on a passed ball) and Caleb Howard before an RBI single from Hunter Queen. John Goodrich, who had a team-high ten hits in the tournament, followed with a double to score two more and the score was 8-5. The rally ended after a walk to C.J. Opp, however, as Dustin VanMeter and Evan Chapman were retired to end the threat.

"We waited until the end (to show urgency), (Weaver) started to wear out a little, but we started taking a lot better swings," said Engelhardt. "The quality of the swing was so much better the last two innings."

As he did for much of the tournament, Goodrich led the way at the plate with a 2-for-3 game, driving in two runs. The Nashville product was 10-for-18 in five State Tournament games and drove in seven runs. Queen (1-4, R, RBI), Opp (1-1, 3 BB), Burris (1-2, 2B) and Bumann (1-2, BB, R) also hit safely against Limestone. Adam Schmitt (3-3, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI), Nate Darko (2-3, HR, R, 3 RBI) and Cody Rupp (2-2, 2B, 2 RBI) led Post 979.

In Friday's 1:30 p.m. game, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin sent Champaign Post 24 home with a 5-4 decision behind Chapman's six-and-a-third innings pitched. Goodrich came on to retire the final two hitters for the save. Chapman allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out seven to pick up the win.

"Evan did a tremendous job again, he's been our horse and we were riding him," Engelhardt said. "Throwing nine innings on Monday, and then having to throw an inning and a third (on Thursday), I think he started to wear down a little bit, but we wanted to stick with him as long as we could."

Post 24 plated two runs in the top of the third, thanks in part to an error that allowed Drake Peratt to reach base. Jonathan Sherrick's RBI single made it 2-0.

2504/647 answered back with two of their own in the bottom half. Chaz Ruffino walked and scored on an error and Hunter Queen reached on an error and came home on a balk by Champaign starter Jordan Seitz. Zach Phillips gave Pinckneyville-Du Quoin a 3-2 lead in the fifth when he reached on an error and later scored on a passed ball.

Phillips walked with two outs in the top of the seventh, setting up a key rally that netted a pair of insurance runs for P-DQ. Hardin followed with an infield single, as did Queen, then Goodrich lined a base hit to left for two RBI and a 5-2 edge.

"Those were hustle runs," Engelhardt said. "Those are things we weren't doing last week, we weren't making hustle plays, and hustle plays won us the game really if you look at it."

Chapman allowed three hits in the bottom half of the seventh including an RBI single by Taner Goslin, but Goodrich came in and got Zak Owens to ground out to short and Drey Goddard to pop out to first for the final two outs of the game.

Goodrich (2-4, 2 RBI), Hardin (1-3, R, SAC), Queen (1-4, R), Ruffino (1-3, R) and Travis Chapman (1-3) all had hits in the game for 2504/647. Phillips was 0-for-1, but walked, scored twice, and had a sacrifice.

In another elimination game, 2504/647 met fellow 5th Division representative Belleville Post 58 at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and stayed alive with a 4-2 win behind Goodrich on the mound.

After picking up the save in the win over Champaign, the righty returned for five innings against Post 58, allowed two runs on five hits, hit a batter and struck out five. Burris pitched scoreless six and seventh innings for the save, inducing a 6-4 double-play ball in the bottom of the seventh to close out the win.

"John was a little tender, he had to throw in the first game a little bit there at the end and it's hard to rev up and then sit and then go again," said Engelhardt. :He threw five great innings, and Joey had been struggling here lately (on the mound) and he found a way to pitch again, not just throw, and he used the defense."

T. Chapman drove in Opp with an RBI double in the second, then scored on a passed ball after singling in the fourth to give Pinckneyville-Du Quoin a 2-0 advantage. Goodrich cruised through the first four innings before allowing a single to Jack Weilmuenster and a two-run homer by Jason Klein in the fifth.

E. Chapman got the lead right back for the tournament host, belting a solo shot to keep Goodrich in line for the win. Goodrich would add an insurance run in the seventh by singling in Phillips.

"We didn't have nearly as many base runners as they did, but it seemed like when we needed the big hit we got it," Engelhardt said. "Travis comes up with the big one earlier to get us on top. Zach Phillips got a bunt down to get us in scoring position and then we came up with a hit to score that, and then Evan with the big home run."

T. Chapman (2-3, 2B, R, RBI) and Goodrich (2-4, RBI) led the offense with two hits apiece. Opp (1-2, R, 2 BB), E. Chapman (1-3, HR, R, RBI), Ruffino (1-2, HBP) and Phillips (1-2, BB, R) did the rest of the hitting.

Pinckneyville-Du Quoin Posts 2504 & 647 wrap up their season with a mark of 27-11.

Limestone Post 979 went on to knock off 5th Division champ Alton Post 126 in the State Championship on Sunday afternoon, winning the second game of the series on a bottom-of-the-eighth walk-off home run by Darko for a 5-4 win.

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