BASEBALL: P-DQ Legion wins 2011 Harold Harmsen Classic
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville-Du Quoin American Legion Posts 2504 & 647's Senior team wrapped up the 2011 Harold Harmsen Classic at Steeleville on Wednesday, knocking off Marion Post 147 4-0 to claim first place in the four-team event that was originally scheduled for this past weekend.
P-DQ topped Steeleville on Friday behind 16 strikeouts from Trent Bigham, and as Sparta could not find enough players to make it back over to Harold Harmsen Field of Dreams for the rescheduled games, the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin senior team won the event with a record of 2-0.
An error, a walk and two singles led to three runs in the bottom of the first inning for Posts 2504 & 647, with Bigham picking up an RBI on a two-out single.
Bryce Harre walked and scored in the second, but after that, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin registered only one hit off of Marion's pitching.
Meanwhile on the hill, Brandon George didn't allow a hit in his three innings of work, striking out four and walking two before exiting in the fourth with a 4-0 lead.
Noah Hepp, Dylan Meier, Sam Kuhnert, and finally Bigham would each work one inning a piece the rest of the way to finish off Post 147.
Hepp ran into trouble in the fourth, needing help from an on-the-mark throw from Harre in centerfield to gun down Nick Andros at third base on Dylan Arvai's double before eventually escaping a jam with the bases loaded.
Bigham would walk the bases full in the seventh, and faced Andros, Goreville's 6'6 slugger who belted 9 home runs in the IHSA season, with two outs. The right-hander got the tall lefty to fan on an off-speed pitch to end the game.
George (2-3, R) and Seth Baxter (2-2) each had two hits for Posts 2504 & 647, Bigham (1-3, RBI) had the other. Harre, Bryant Shute and Adam Barczewski also scored runs.
Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's Senior Legion squad travels to Murphysboro for two games on Thursday beginning at 6:00 p.m. The following night, they begin play in the District Tournament held at Ray Fosse Park in Marion, taking on Orient at 5:00 p.m.
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