BASEBALL: Vernon Hills squeaks by Du Quoin in eight

Du Quoin scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to send Tuesday's baseball game with Vernon Hills to extra innings, but the Cougars plated two in the top of the eighth to leave The Ballpark at DHS with a 7-5 victory.

Nine walks - five of which ended up runs - hurt the Indians' pitching efforts while some mental errors on the base paths held back the offense.

"We walked nine batters and made four base running mistakes," said Du Quoin head coach Tim Craft. "You cannot give any team that many opportunities and expect to win."

A walk, an error, and two wild pitches led to a Cougar run in the top of the second inning, and back to back doubles yielded another run in the third, as Vernon Hills took a 2-0 lead.

The Indians jumped ahead with a four-run third inning after big RBI doubles by A.J. Smith and Levi Brening. Cole Hopkins started the inning with a walk, Ethan Keller singled, and after the back-to-back two-baggers, Brock Bullar grounded to second base for an RBI.

But Du Quoin couldn't do anything with their next four base runners. That allowed Vernon Hills to go back on top in the top of the fifth, when Smith was lifted from the mound after issuing his seventh free pass. The right-hander allowed just three hits and struck out five.

The Cougars struck for three runs in that fifth inning, but Jacob Valier came on to limit the damage by retiring the next seven hitters in order.

Keller doubled to lead off the seventh and crossed the plate to tie the game when Bullar drew a bases-loaded walk with one out, but Du Quoin couldn't score again to win it.

Valier allowed two hits and a walk in the top of the eighth when Vernon Hills took a two-run lead. Keller doubled with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but was stranded - one of nine base runners left on for the Indians in the game.

"We had plenty of chances, we just were unable to come up with the big hit when we needed it," Craft said.

Keller (4-5, 2 R, 3 2B) had four of Du Quoin's eight hits. Smith (2-4, R, RBI, 2B), Brening (1-2, R, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 BB) and Ryne O'Rourke (1-3, 2B, HBP) had the rest.

Valier took the loss with three and two-thirds innings of work during which he allowed two earned runs on two hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts.

The Indians (3-3) are at West Frankfort on Wednesday and at Mt. Vernon on Friday.