IHSA Class 2A Baseball
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ For the sixth consecutive year, Du Quoin High School's Baseball team is regional championship game-bound.
To keep that streak alive, the Indians turned to a reliable bat of a senior leader and the dominating left arm of its pitching ace.
Colin Jones lined a solo home run in the second inning and Josh Cushman tossed his fourth shutout of 2009, leading Du Quoin to a 1-0 win over Murphysboro in the semfinals of Pinckneyville's Class 2A Regional.
Now 20-7, the Tribe advances to another regional final and face host Pinckneyville (17-12) at 1 p.m. Saturday. On the line is a spot in next week's Greenville Sectional.
Murphysboro ended its season at 15-13, suffering its second loss of the month to Du Quoin. Red Devil ace Dylan Craig-like Cushman a solid candidate for All-State honors-gave the Indians just four hits while striking out five.
Cushman (7-2) whiffed 11 batters and scattered five hits-all singles. He walked two and hit one.
"In a game that lasts only about an hour and twenty minutes like this one, you know there's been some great pitching," Du Quoin coach Tim Craft said. "Craig's a great pitcher and Josh just continues to be dominating every time out. Both pitchers made it look pretty easy out there."
Things were anything but easy in the opening frame for the Kaskaskia College-bound Cushman. With two out, Craig and Cam Keener laced back-to-back singles. Cushman rallied to retire Brent Bachmann on a ground ball.
In the third, Murphysboro again threatened.
Jeremy Marshall stroked a one-out single and moved up when Blake DeRocher walked. Craig then lined a shot back to Cushman, with the ball deflecting towards third base. After quickly recovering, the agile Cushman made a lunging throw to Brandon George at third. The toss beat Marshall to the bag for a force out. Keener then bounced out to Seth Flint at first base, ending the inning.
"Josh made a lot of big pitches at key times," Craft said. "And he's like having another infielder out there when he's on the mound. That was a huge play. Our defense played well, too."
In the sixth, Craig singled and swiped second base. He was at third base with one out-constituting the biggest Red Devil scoring threat of the day-when Cushman whiffed Keener and Eben Brooks to retire the side.
Murphysboro stranded its eighth runner of the game in the seventh when when Cushman stranded Blake Hanson at first base. Hanson was hit by a pitch with one out, but Marshall and DeRocher went down swinging.
"I think he just threw his fastball by us," Murphysboro coach and former Major League hurler Jeff Keener said. "We just couldn't put the ball in play when we needed to."
Du Quoin made plenty of contact against Craig and struck out just five times. Besides the roundtripper from Jones, Davis rapped an opposite field double to the fence in leftfield. Several outs were hit hard with Garrett Hopkins and Cale Bastien also contributing safeties.
With two out in the second, Jones' third home run of the season easily cleared the Rigdon Field fence in right centerfield.
"I am so proud of our kids," Craft said. "We've been working pretty hard against left handed pitching and have several young kids who are lefty's-along with me-who threw a lot of batting practice to get ready for this game," said Craft. "Colin's home run didn't surprise me. His swing was just like the swing's he was taking in 'BP' today."
Craig was 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Murphysboro.
Defensive play on both sides shined Thursday. The game was error-free with just one wild pitch.
Craft will pitch Bastien (5-2) against Pinckneyville.
The Indians defeated the Panthers twice (10-0 and 13-3) on the way to grabbing first place in River-to-River Conference, Mississippi Division play.
Saturday's winner plays May 27 at 4:30 in the Greenville Sectional, meeting the Carlyle regional champ. Greenville and Carlyle will decide that title. Regional victors from Columbia (Columbia or Wesclin) and Alton Marquette (Edwardsville Metro East Lutheran or Marquette Catholic) also advance to Greenville.
JV SEASON ENDS
Despite losing more than half of its schedule dates to weather, Du Quoin High School's Junior Varsity team last week ended a successful season with an 11-6 record.
The Young Indians finished near the top of the SIRR standings with a 6-2 mark.
Jeromie Morgan and Dennis Bastien coached the squad.
DHS 1, Murphysboro 0
M'Boro 000 000 0-0 5 0
DHS 010 000 x-1 4 0
Craig and Keener. Cushman and Jones. WP-Cushman, 7-2. LP-Craig. TOP HITTERS-M'Boro: Marshall 1-4, Craig 2-3, Keener 1-3, Porter 1-3. DHS: Davis 1-3 (2B), Bastien 1-2, Jones 1-2 (HR, RBI), Hopkins 1-2.
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