advertisement

Indians sweep pair from Herrin

DU QUOIN - St. Patrick's Day proved to be a memorable day for the Du Quoin High School baseball team as the Indians pulled off a doubleheader sweep of visiting Herrin on Saturday, 5-1 and 4-3.

Du Quoin has scored at least four runs in each of its first three games, all victories under first-year head coach Kyle Geiger.

Du Quoin took the first game, 5-1, behind starter Bryan Witcher, who went 4 1/3 innings and gave up one run to pick up the win.

Hank Stewart led off the game with a home run and collected a total of two hits. Alex Zimmerman went 2-2 and reached base four times, while first baseman Tevin Lee also added two hits.

"It's always nice to put some runs on the board early and get out to a lead first," Geiger said. "It sort of puts your starting pitcher at ease, puts everyone around him at ease, and really gives the team a chance to get in the flow of the game.

"We did that, and had enough defense to shut them (Tigers) down in that first game."

In game two, Zimmerman took the ball in his first start of the season. Geiger said that his sophomore starter had to labor in some rough conditions.

After Herrin jumped out 1-0 in the first, the Indians immediately answered with two runs of their own, en route to a 4-3 victory.

"It was kind of a rough game from both sides, and not just because of the weather," Geiger said. "There were some questionable calls from the perspective of the umpires. There were some calls that were iffy on both sides, and I think it had an effect on both teams. I told the kids we can't focus on that."

Geiger said he thought the Indians had a better at bats in game one.

"Luckily, we were able to hold on," he said.

Geiger says that his team will eventually put up bigger numbers at the plate, but has won early with timely hitting and good all-around defense.

"I had high expectaions (on defense) before the start of the year. I thought we would be pretty solid in the field," Geiger said. "And we've shown it already. I think we're going to be able to make a lot of plays on defense. And we have guys who can play a lot of different positions, so that helps, too."

He says his team will continue to build on its early-season momentum.

"At the end of the day, we got two wins," Geiger said. "It's the first part of the year, and there are things to be cleaned up. But overall, I'm happy with it."