BASEBALL: Indians fight off Panthers to advance

Several times during the 2015 season, the Pinckneyville Panthers fell behind on the scoreboard due to mistakes in the field or bouts of wildness on the mound. On Monday at Du Quoin, both came into play in the first inning, allowing the Indians to take a lead they never relinquished, beating PCHS 8-5 in round one of the Class 2A Baseball Regional.

The Panthers got back into the game after falling behind 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning on a walk, a hit batter, and an error, but just as Pinckneyville looked to be building some momentum, the Indians piled four runs on them in the bottom of the sixth on four hits, a walk and a dropped third strike that resulted in an extra base runner.

"That's how everything's went all year long for us," said PCHS head coach Gabe Shepard. "Not to take anything away from (Du Quoin starter Levi) Brening - he pitched a heck of a game, but I think we won that game everywhere but on the scoreboard. We out-hit them, we had several balls we hit at people that didn't find holes, and there were several balls on the other side that weren't hit all that hard that got through. The baseball gods weren't smiling on us today by any means."

Brening fought dehydration throughout the day, but finished off a complete game, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

"We kept trying to pump fluids in him as much as we could," said DHS head coach Tim Craft. "He did a good job of gutting his way through it. It was a tough game for him, and it would be a tough game for anybody."

Du Quoin built a 3-0 lead against left-hander Cole Bigham before the Panthers got a run in the top of the fourth on Jacob Louis' RBI single to bring in Trent Hicks (single).

Pinckneyville continued to chip away in the sixth when Hicks doubled and scored on another RBI base hit by Louis, who then scored when Nolan Luke reached on an error, making it 4-3.

But the Indians responded to the pressure in the sixth. Ryne O'Rourke walked with one out in front of a sharply-hit double by Ashton Smith before Hopkins reached on a dropped third strike to load the bases. Ethan Keller and Jacob Valier followed with RBI singles in what became a four-run inning for Du Quoin.

Smith had two doubles, the Indians' only extra-base hits of the game.

"(Ashton Smith) just keeps getting good at-bats," Craft said. "He doesn't cheat himself, he doesn't try to do too much, he just stays back and hits the ball. When your number eight hitter is doing that, that's great. I can't say enough about him."

"It was good to see some guys come through. With the infield in we knew putting a good swing on the ball would give it a good chance of getting through the infield. The kids did a good job of just simplifying the game and putting it in play."

Hicks belted a two-run homer in the seventh for Pinckneyville, but then Brening got Tyler Rulevish to ground out to first base for the final out.

Keller (1-3, 2 R, RBI, BB), Valier (2-3, 2 R, RBI, HBP), Brening (2-3, RBI, BB), Smith (2-3, 2 R, 2 2B) and Hopkins (1-3, R) had Du Quoin's eight hits off Bigham.

For the Panthers, Hicks (3-4, 3 R, 2 RBI), Rulevish (1-4), Louis (2-3, 2 RBI), Luke (1-3), Miles Chandler (1-3, R) and Jackson Brand (1-3, 2B) accounted for the team's nine hits. Bigham surrendered four earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out five.

"Cole pitched well," Shepard said. "He got himself in trouble a couple times here and there, but other than that he pitched great."

The Panthers finish Shepard's first season as head coach with a record of 10-20.

Du Quoin (22-10), meanwhile, advances to Thursday's semifinals where they will meet number two seed, West Frankfort, at 4:30 p.m. The Redbirds will likely send ace lefty Hunter Hancock to the mound to face the Indians.

"The good thing is it'll be the second game in a row we've seen a left-handed pitcher," Craft said. "I think he's comparable to Bigham, and he had us turned around quite a bit for most of the game today. We hit a lot of balls off the end of the bat. He made some good pitches with two strikes. We're going to keep the same approach with the next guy - when we get two strikes, shorten up and just put it in play and see if we can force them to make some mistakes."