The Road to Joliet
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Spotting Sparta High School-and ace hurler Clay Peck a three-run first inning lead-is never a good scenario.
Pinckneyville Community High School's Baseball team, however, was able to overcome the early hurdle and keep its hopes alive for a third consecutive Class 2A Regional title.
The Panthers, 16-12, edged Sparta 9-6 as the Pinckneyvile Regional began at Rigdon Field.
Notching the play-in round win, PCHS moved into the semifinals and battle #1 seed Nashville (21-9) at 4:30 p.m.
Du Quoin (19-7) and Murphysboro (14-10) play Thursday's semi.
"We survived to take on Nashville and gained some needed experience along the way," PCHS coach Alan Engelhardt said. "We'll need another good effort Wednesday to stay alive. It was a rough game for us but we swung the batts pretty well and gave ourselves a chance to advance."
Sparta (9-11) raced ahead against Pinckneyville frosh starter Bryant Shute (3-0) in the first inning when Dillon Blind smacked a two-RBI single and Chris Theobald doubled in another.
PCHS bounced right back against Peck to quickly tie the score when Matt Gill blasted a three-run homer.
In the third inning, Pinckneyville went ahead for good on Garrick Hale's two-run shot.
Adam Barczewski and Brandon Long added RBI hits during the fray as PCHS stretched its lead to 7-3.
Sparta pulled within one after dropping another three spot on Shute in the fourth. Peck's two-run homer was the key shot with a Panther miscue chasing in another tally.
"We made some anxious plays on defense in the field," Engelhardt admitted. "We forget that we had six kids making their first appearance on the field in regional tournament play."
Pinckneyville countered Sparta's uprising with two key insurance runs to end the fifth as Hale and Christian Shopinski smoked RBI hits.
Shute allowed five hits and struck out five. C.J. Opp-another frosh‚ closed out the fifth before Gill relieved.
The trio combined for 10 strikeouts.
Pinckneyville's 13-hit attack included safeties from all nine spots in the order. Hale was 3-for-3 with Gill and Shopinski recording two hits each.
PCHS 9, Sparta 6
Sparta 300 300 0-6 9 0
PCHS 304 200 x-9 13 4
Peck, Wall (4) and Loyd. Shute, Opp (5), Gill (5) and Barczewski. WP-Shute, 3-0. LP-Peck (3-4) . S-Gill, 5. TOP HITTERS-Sparta: Blind 2-3 (2B, 2 RBI), Peck 2-4 (HR, 2 RBI), Prest 2-4. PCHS: Dudek 1-4, Shute 1-2 (2B), Hale 3-3 (HR, 2B, 3 RBI), Gill 2-3 (HR, 3 RBI), Rakers 1-4 (2B), McConnell 1-1, Shopinski 2-4, Barczewski 1-3 (RBI), Long 1-3 (RBI).