BASEBALL: Warriors suffer first loss, rebound with big win
Du Quoin Middle School suffered their first defeat of the fall baseball season on Saturday against Harrisburg 10-2, but rebounded later in the afternoon to clobber Carlyle 15-3 after trailing 3-0 in the first inning.
The Bulldogs led all the way in the early game of the tournament at The Ballpark at DHS, getting a bases loaded walk in the top of the first to lead 1-0, and a sacrifice fly in the third to go two.
Du Quoin halved the lead in the bottom of the third inning when Alex Zimmerman walked and later scored on a wild pitch, but Harrisburg put the first crooked number on the scoreboard moments later with a three-run fourth inning that included a pair of walks, a pair of singles, a hit batter, and a Warriors error.
DMS chipped away a run on Trae Horn's RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, but another Du Quoin error and two hits by the Bulldogs in the top of the fifth made it 7-2.
"We made some mental mistakes on the bases and in the field," said Warriors head coach Tim Craft. "Harrisburg is a good team and any opportunities you give them they will take advantage of."
Zimmerman (1-3, R), Horn (1-3, RBI), Brian Winters (1-3, 2B), Braeden Pursell (1-3), Logan Robinson (1-1, 2B) and Ethan Zettler (1-1, BB) had Du Quoin's six hits against Harrisburg. The Bulldogs racked up eleven hits against the combined efforts of Slade West and Zettler on the mound for the Warriors.
Trailing 3-0 after Carlyle had five first-inning singles against Warriors hurler A.J. Rice, DMS's bats exploded for 19 hits in the next four innings.
West had a two-run double in Du Quoin's three-run bottom of the first, and the Warriors grabbed the lead an inning later on Zimmerman's RBI two-bagger. West, who would finish the game with 5 RBIs, added an RBI single in the second frame as well and DMS was on top 5-3.
Rice settled in on the mound and scattered three hits the rest of the way, and the DMS offense kept pouring on the run support. The first seven Warriors to come to the plate reached base safely in the third, two on walks, the next five on base hits.
"We really responded after being down 3-0 in the first," Craft said. "A.J. got stronger as the game went on. The defense really played well behind him. It was good to see us bounce back after a tough game earlier in the day."
Winters (3-4, 3 R, RBI), Zimmerman (3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B), Pursell (2-2, 4 R, 2 BB), West (3-4, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2B), Robinson (1-3, RBI, 2B), Zettler (1-1, RBI), Owen Bradley (3-4, R) and Konner Harris (3-4, RBI) all hit safely for Du Quoin against Carlyle.
The Warriors (4-1) host Sesser-Valier on Monday.