BASEBALL: Harrisburg too much for Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Heading into the fourth inning Wednesday, Harrisburg's boat was taking in water.
Instead of bailing ship, the Bulldogs bailed out each other.
Ryne Roper relieved starter Tyler McGowan after just an 1 2/3 innings and after stranding six runners in three innings and trailing 3-0, Harrisburg busted out the bats in the fourth inning, scoring eight runs on three hits, including a grand slam off the stick of Isaac Behme to deep center field that helped Harrisburg get over the hump and pick up a 13-3 victory to stay undefeated on the season.
Behme wasn't done however, his two-run double off the wall in center field scored Cameron Cummins and Ryne Roper to put the 10-run rule into effect.
Behme finished the day 3-for-4 with six RBIs and in three games this year, the senior first baseman, is batting 8-for-11 with 10 RBIs.
"I'm seeing the ball pretty well right now," Behme said. "The ball is looking pretty big right now, but I'm just having fun playing baseball."
Behme added that he's put on about 10 pounds since football season and has worked hard in the offseason on his swing.
Harrisburg head coach Jay Thompson said that the progression that Behme has made in just three years as a player is starting to show off.
"He's locked in and he's riding a hot streak," Thompson said. "I hope it stays that way for him, he's a good hitter.
"He can just flat hit and the big difference for him this year is he's a lot stronger. He had never hit a home run before in three years of varsity baseball and now he's hit two in two days. He's obviously put in some work and got himself very prepared."
The other notable difference for Harrisburg Wednesday was the mound performance of Ryne Roper, picking up the win, after going 4 1/3 innings with 11 strikeouts, one walk and five hits in a shut out performance.
Du Quoin jumped on McGowan for three early runs with one in the first and two runs in the second.
McGowan struggled with his command, giving up four hits and three runs (two earned). The junior struck out three and walked three.
"Tyler just didn't have it (today)," Thompson said. "He came out of the bullpen without his best stuff. He just never seem to be able to settle in. he'll do better. It was a tough outing. We'll run him back out there as soon as we can. In cases like that, you have to get guys like him back on the horse and try to get him back. We need him and he's an important member of our staff."
Thompson added that he felt his club played too tentatively in the early going and didn't have the aggressiveness that the Bulldogs usually play with.
"We let a good team jump out to a 3-0 lead. the key to me was Ryne coming in and giving us four good innings of shut out baseball which kept the score there and gave us a chance to rally.
"We did a fantastic job at the plate again," Thompson said. "We had good at bats from everyone in the lineup, but of course Behme's was huge. We had a lot of guys that got very important hits for us."
Loan Leverett finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Roper and Cummins each scored two runs. Keelin Rasch and Borders also scored a run as well.
For Du Quoin, J.C. Davis was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, Brandon George had an RBI and picked up the loss on the hill, going four innings (7 Ks).
Jake Stanhouse, Sam Gossett and Connor Wheeler had the other Du Quoin hits.
The Indians (1-1) are next scheduled to take the field on March 30 at West Frankfort (4:30 p.m.).