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BASEBALL SECTIONAL: Du Quoin streak reaches a dozen, Super-Sectional on Monday

Posted May 29, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[With victories over Edwardsville (Metro-East Lutheran) on Friday and Greenville on Saturday, Du Quoin is now one win away from a trip to Peoria and IHSA State Baseball Finals weekend.

The Indians rode the arms of pitchers Trent Bigham and Brandon George to a 7-3 decision over the MEL Knights (11-16) on Friday afternoon and a 10-3 triumph over the Comets the following day to become the champions of the Greenville Sectional. The wins also extended DHS's current winning streak to twelve games.

"We've got a couple guys that have really been big for us on the mound in the postseason," said Du Quoin head baseball coach Tim Craft. "I trust either one of them at any time."

Bigham was up first, allowing just three hits against Metro-East Lutheran on Friday while also helping himself with a game-tying, two out, two RBI single in bottom of the first inning. J.C. Davis and Keegan Robbins led off the inning with singles and scored on Bigham's base hit.

Knights' starter Nick Hoff was hit by a pitch at the plate in the top of the third, then struggled with his command in the bottom of the inning, walking Connor Wheeler with the bases loaded to break the 2-2 tie.

"It was a tough game," Knights' head coach Joel Rempfer said. "We proved to ourselves we could hang with them and maybe on a different day we get a few more timely hits, or maybe Hoff's curveball is a little better and it's a different outcome."

Seth Baxter followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2, and the Indians tacked on another in the bottom of the fourth when Travis Chapman led off with a double, then his courtesy runner Camden Youngman came home on a fly ball to right by Robbins.

"It was a big lift for the dugout," Craft said of the comeback. "A lot of the games we've played during this streak we've got down one or two runs early, we've been able to battle back and the kids have just fought, and fought, and fought. They're not scared in any situation."

Bigham temporarily lost his command in the top of the fifth and allowed a runner to cross home on a wild pitch, but the Indians still led 5-3.

With two outs and Davis at third after a triple, George belted a two-run shot well over the left field wall for the dagger in the bottom of the sixth.

"He's had a couple big hits here the last few weeks," Craft said of George. "That one too, he didn't miss it, he got every bit of it when he hit it."

Bigham had a 1-2-3 seventh on the hill and Du Quoin moved into Saturday's championship. The senior hurler's complete game consisted of seven innings pitched, three hits allowed, six walks, a hit batter and three strikeouts.

"I was just trying to hit my spots," Bigham said. "Try to spot up my fastball and whenever I got ahead throw my curveball for strikes too, just keep the hitters off-balance and try to throw strikes really."

Davis was three-for-four at the plate with a pair of runs scored to lead the way for the Indians on offense.

Robbins (2-4, 2 R, RBI), George (2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI), Bigham (2-3, 2 RBI), Baxter (1-3, 2B, RBI), Chapman (1-3, 2B, R) and Drew Bennett (1-4, R) also had hits for Du Quoin.

On Saturday, George took to the mound against the Sectional host Comets and matched Bigham's complete game from the day before with one of his own.

George fanned eleven and also sent down eleven Greenville hitters in a row at one point in the game while surrendering six hits, walking two and hitting one batter. He ran into trouble only once, allowing three runs in the fifth inning before the Indians regained control with a four-run frame in response.

"The inning I had trouble, I wasn't hitting my spots," George said. "I lost a little command of my fastball, I couldn't throw my slider, curveball for a strike, and after that I settled down."

Davis singled, Robbins was hit, and George reached on a dropped fly ball to right to set the table for Bennett's RBI single and a 1-0 lead for DHS in the bottom of the first. Bigham walked to send another run across, as did Wheeler, but the Comets escaped serious damage when starter Dylan Bone struck out Baxter and Jake Stanhouse to end the inning.

"We had zero outs and the bases loaded and still only gave up three runs, I thought that could have been a big momentum shift," said Greenville head coach Todd Hutchinson. "Dylan (Bone) did settle down and did a great job, and (George) did a great job for them. It just didn't work out for us today."

George had allowed only a single hit when A.J. Childerson singled to center in the fifth for Greenville, but the Comets' first baseman was gunned down at second base trying to stretch it to a double after Bigham's laser beam to Davis at the bag.

"It just gives you a huge boost of confidence when you've got that kind of defense behind you, because you know they're there behind your back and they're going to do whatever they can to help you out," George said.

Then George started to get some pitches up in the zone. Bone doubled to start a three-run rally for Greenville, and suddenly the game was tied.

"That inning he left a few balls up, but they're a good hitting team, we saw that (Friday)," said Craft. "We got him back in the dugout and got him calmed down a little bit, then we put those runs up and I think that just kind of broke the tension all the way across."

In the bottom of the inning, Wheeler doubled with the bases loaded to give Du Quoin a 6-3 advantage, then came in on a sac-fly by Stanhouse later in the inning.

"The kids, when (Greenville) tied it, I think it kind of woke them up a little bit," Craft said. "We've had problems at times letting teams back into games, I was proud of the way we battled back."

With a four-run lead, George went back to work in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts and a pickoff of Dylan Jackson, who had walked.

"I knew I wasn't going to give (the lead) up, there was no way," George said. "They fought too hard for me, I'm not going to disappoint them like that."

The Comets put two more men on in the seventh, but couldn't get either one across the plate. Du Quion's Dylan Pyron made a sliding catch in right for the game's final out.

Davis completed a six-hit Sectional with a three-for-three day at the plate, doubling and scoring two runs. Robbins (1-2, 2 R, HBP), George (1-4), Bennett (2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI), Wheeler (2-3, 2B, BB, R, 4 RBI) and Baxter (1-4, RBI) also had hits in the Sectional final. Youngman scored twice as a courtesy runner for George.

The Indians (17-12) and Anna-Jonesoboro (23-10) face off at 5:00 p.m. on Monday at GCS Park in the Sauget Super-Sectional. The winner advances to Peoria and will play in Friday's 3:00 p.m. Class 2A Semifinal.

As for the game's starting pitchers, that information remains anyone's guess. A-J's ace Cody Livesay and Du Quoin's numbers one and two George and Bigham all threw complete games on Friday or Saturday.

"It will probably be a collection of people," Craft said. "Bottom line, we've just got to show up and play and hopefully things go our way."

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