Du Quoin baseball tops Trico, falls at Carmi

DU QUOIN - The Du Quoin High school baseball team held on for a dramatic 4-3 win over Trico on Friday, then lost twice on the road at Carmi on Saturday, 8-3 and 11-1.

On Friday, Du Quoin jumped out to a four-run lead and held on for dear life.

Bryzn Witcher pitched 6-2/3 innings but reached the maximum limit after Ryan Vogt hit an RBI single in the seventh. Tyler Van Zandt came in and got Garret Thies to hit a grounder to second baseman Brian Winters for the final out.

Before that, Witcher took a shutout into the sixth before getting touched for an unearned run. He struck out six, including two in the top of Trico's order in the seventh.

The Indians got on the board in the third when Will Woodside singled and later scored on an error.

In the fourth, Hank Stewart singled and scored on a triple by Ashton Smith, which was followed by an RBI groundout from Charley Mercier. Witcher added a two-out singled and scored on a hit by Kyle Donoghue.

Donoghue finished 3-for-4, while Alex Zimmerman and Smith both had two hits in the win.

In Saturday's first game, Carmi scored five runs in the fourth inning and got a two-run homer from the No. 9 hitter in the sixth for an 8-3 win over the Indians in a game that featured pitchers named Stewart from both teams.

Winters hit a two-run homer in the second inning for Du Quoin's lone highlight.

The Indians had just four hits in the second game, with Smith raking two of them. Carmi, meanwhile, had 14 hits and plated five runs in the fifth and four in the sixth.

Du Quoin's record moved to 15-9 after the three games.