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BASEBALL: Ejection hands Junior District crown to 2504/647

Posted July 20, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Coming into the 25th District Tournament heavily-favored as the top seed, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin American Legion Posts 2504 & 647's Junior (No. 1) team probably didn't expect to be on the ropes against Metropolis Tuesday afternoon in Steeleville. Down 7-1 in the top of the fifth inning, they probably didn't expect to win the District championship without having to play a second game at 7:30 p.m., but a short bench ultimately doomed Post 306 as they were forced to forfeit after a player ejection.

"We weren't ready to play," said Pinckneyville-Du Quoin head coach Alan Engelhardt. "I think honestly we thought 'our younger kids had beaten these guys, and our younger kids had played them tight,' and we came out expecting to just cruise."

It was Metropolis that was cruising until Aaron Jones stepped in to face Justyn Rushing with Cordan Hight in scoring position after a two-out double. Jones singled up the middle and Hight tried to score, but the throw was in plenty of time. Rather than sliding, Hight came in high at 2504/647 catcher Travis Chapman in an apparent attempt to jar the ball loose, but Chapman withstood the collision and applied the tag for the third out.

The home plate umpire immediately informed Hight that he had been ejected for not making an attempt to slide. Post 306 had already used their only available substitute player in the game, leaving them with only eight players, meaning Pinckneyville-Du Quoin would receive the victory by forfeit.

"Well the bottom line is this (tournament is played under) Major League rules, so you've got to start with nine and you've got to finish with nine," said 25th District Chairman Butch Ogle. "Unfortunately, a player got ejected and they'd already used their (only available) sub, so the game's over."

Major League Baseball rule number 4.17 states: "A game shall be forfeited to the opposing team when a team is unable or refuses to place nine players on the field." The "slide rule" is the only difference between Legion Tournament rules and those used by MLB.

"It's just unfortunate," said a dejected Garrett Wilson, coach of Post 306's Juniors. "I had a couple ball players that didn't show up (tonight), and we had one sub and had already used him. It's just one of those things that can't be helped, rules are rules. It's a terrible way to end it, we were the better team today and we're going home with second place."

Metropolis built their 7-1 lead on P'ville-Du Quoin starter Joey Burris, who allowed 7 hits, 5 walks and hit 3 batters while recording a pair of strikeouts. Rushing faced only Jones before the game was stopped.

2504/647 totaled just 5 hits, two from Zach Phillips. Burris (1-2, 2B), Luke Chapman (1-2) and Tournament MVP C.J. Opp (1-2) also had hits. Evan Chapman walked and scored Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's only run.

"They threw a slow pitcher," Engelhardt said. "Instead of us coming out looking to punish him and do the things that made us successful, we're trying to roll over and ground on everything instead of making those adjustments."

Opp earned MVP honors for going 6-for-10 at the plate and firing a one-hitter in Saturday's win over Chester.

Pinckneyville-Du Quoin will now await other District Tournament results before finding out their next opponent, whom they will likely face this Saturday. The Division Tournament is held at Gordon Moore Park in Alton.

"You hope that this is a lesson game," said Engelhardt. "We talked to our guys, we did the same thing in the Regional last year, where we came out and we thought we were going to win this thing and we didn't compete. You never know, we may have tried to kick it in at the end today, but we just weren't ready to go."

"I think, talent-wise, we're as good as anybody when we're ready to play. "

Metropolis also advances to the Division Tournament in Alton, a fact that softens the blow of Tuesday's loss.

"We're going to move on and build from this right here, what just happened," Wilson said. "We had, supposedly, the best team in the tournament down 7-1 and were rolling, maybe going to score a couple more runs."

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