BASEBALL: Noth Clay ends PJHS playoff run
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Pinckneyville Junior High School (District #50) managed just a pair of hits and fell to North Clay 10-0 on Saturday, ending their Class M state tournament run in the quarterfinals.
Trent Hicks, the regional final game's hero, fanned 12 Indians for the Junior Panthers in the losing effort, but the offense couldn't get anything going, striking out 15 times against the tall, dominant North Clay hurler.
Hicks and Clayton Houghland had the only hits for the Junior Panthers. Caulden Lazenby was the only other PJHS runner to reach base, walking in the bottom of the fifth as Junior Panthers had their biggest threat to score with two men on and one out, but the next two batters went down swinging and North Clay continued on for the shutout.
Things came unraveled for PJHS in the top of the second inning when a throwing error and a pair of walks helped the Indians jump ahead 4-0.
North Clay piled on three more runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth, and another in the seventh.
The Junior Panthers had advanced to Saturday's state tournament with a 5-2 victory on Monday over Trico in which Hicks struck out 13 batters.
</group><group id="38B3B9F8-A3D2-419E-AA80-BF1426BDE524" type="seoLabels"><seoLabels></seoLabels></group>