The Road to Joliet: PCHS part of surprising field in Alton
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[At first glance, this week's Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 2A at Alton's Gordon Moore Park appears to be top heavy.
Highly-regarded Greenville enters with far and away the best record at 30-5. The Comets will meet host Alton Marquette (13-17) to open the event at 4:30 Wednesday.
On Thursday, with first pitch time also set for 4:30, Pinckneyville (18-14) battles surprising Freeburg (13-23). The championship game will be played Saturday morning.
With the exception of Greenville-which edged Wesclin 12-8 on Andrew Maurer's walkoff grand slam-the Alton sectional is full of surprises.
Pinckneyville knocked off #1 seed Du Quoin to win at Nashville while Alton Marquette eliminated defending 2A state runner-up Edwardsville Metro East Lutheran for first place at the Wood River regional.
"It was great to see all our kids, young and old, come ready to play and believe they could win a championship despite having a little different lineup out there," fourth year PCHS coach Alan Engelhardt.
A victory by the Panthers Thursday would be career win #100 for Engelhardt (99-42) and mark the third time he's guided the Panthers to the Swee 16 or beyond in Class 2A.
"We need to keep sustaining our defensive effort and get another good outing on the hill to keep moving on."
Freeburg shocked Columbia 12-8 to earn the Red Bud regional crown, securing the 500th career win for legendary coach Fred Blumberg.
Nick Koesterer's grand slam home run proved to be the difference as the Midgets scored eight times in the final inning to win going away. Earlier in the game, Tyler Adamson-the squad's top hitter-gave Freeburg an early lead with a grand slam.
"There were a number of ballgames early in the year where we just didn't have our team together," Blumberg told the Belleville News-Democrat following Monday's win.
"We gradually got better. It didn't always show in wins. I know there aren't many sectional teams that are 13-23."
Adamson (.430, 27 RBI, six home runs, 13 steals) is the top offensive threat for Freeburg.
Stephen Jarvis (.370, 27 RBI), Alex Fricke (.333, 27 RBI), and Brandon Gwinn (.329 (five HR, 25 RBI) also have solid numbers.
Koesterer's marks are .325 with six home runs.
On the mound, Blumberg's starters include Nick McGraw (4-2, 3.91), Andy McCarty (3-3), Koesterer (3-5) and Jarvis (2-4, 4.65).
Against Columbia, Jarvis threw the final three innings for the win.
Engelhardt expects McGraw to draw the starting nod against the Panthers, who will counter with sophomore lefty C.J. Opp (7-3).
"C.J.'s been our most consistent the entire year," Engelhardt said.
"He really just knows how to pitch and keeps on getting better each time out."
Pinckneyville's offense-despite the loss of several key players (suspensions)-was very efficient against Du Quoin.
Working Indian pitchers for six walks, the Panthers had big hits from catcher Adam Barczewski, senior infielder Landon Chandler and sophomore shortstop Hunter Queen.
Boasting a current seven-game hitting streak, Barczewski hit in 18 straight games during mid-season.
Along with Chandler, Matthew Nichols and Michael Rakers, the junior backstop has been red-hot recently.
Greenville is led by SIU-Carbondale signee Todd Eaton, a pitcher/shortstop who was an All-State quarterback in football.
Marquette's pitching ace is five-game winner Zachary Eggering. Denny Crutcher (.366, 19 RBI) is the top hitter for the Explorers, who host the sectional on their home diamond.
"Probably with the exception of Greenville with Eaton, no one really has that really dominating pitcher," Engelhardt said. "It will be important to be patient at the plate. That's something we've really started to improve on."