BASEBALL: Panthers lose, split Mississippi
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A week ago the hottest team in the area, Pinckneyville has now lost seven straight baseball games after a 10-6 home loss to Anna-Jonesboro on Wednesday, a defeat that cost the Panthers an outright championship in the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division.
Despite the loss, Du Quoin's victory over A-J on Tuesday means PCHS still gets a share of the conference title.
"I know it isn't the way we wanted to win conference," said head coach Alan Engelhardt, "but the boys should be proud of their work earlier in the season to put themselves in a position to win conference."
Wednesday's game looked like a blowout after the top of the third inning when seven hits and an error led to seven Wildcat runs and a 9-0 score.
The Panthers got three back in the fourth, and two more in the six, but missed opportunities to continue chipping away in both innings.
"We lost today's game with early mistakes," Engelhardt said. "In the third inning, we didn't make a couple of plays in the field and we got down, started grooving pitches, and ended up giving up 7 runs."
"In the fourth inning, we made a base running mistake and ended up only scoring 3 and not 4 runs, and in the sixth, we missed scoring on a passed ball that should have been another run."
In the bottom of the fourth, Hunter Queen belted a three-run blast to cut the lead to 9-3. After A-J tacked on an insurance run in the sixth, the Panthers answered back with two more on an RBI double by Taylor Beninati and and RBI single by Adam Barczewski.
Down 10-5, the Panthers rallied again in the bottom of the seventh. Nichols led off with a single and was later driven in on a base hit by Queen. After Beninati singled with two outs, Barczewski came to the plate with the bases loaded representing the tying run, but couldn't produce a hit.
"When we ended the game with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, we need to understand that we lost the game earlier by not making plays," Engelhardt said.
"I like the fact that we battled after the third inning and gave ourselves a chance to tie at the end. We need someone to step up and stop our skid as the week draws to a close."
Chapman (6-2) had a rare off-day on the hill, allowing 15 hits and 6 earned runs for his second straight loss.
Queen led the way for PCHS at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, a homer, two runs scored and four driven in. Barczewski (2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI), Beninati (2-3, 2B, R, RBI), Matthew Nichols (2-3, BB, R), C.J. Opp (1-4, R), and Marian Brammeier (1-3, BB) also had hits.
The Panthers (19-10, 7-3) will host Marissa on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.