BASEBALL: Warriors come from behind to beat Herrin in state quarterfinals

Erasing a 5-1 deficit in the process, Du Quoin Middle School found a way to get it done in Saturday's SIJHSAA State quarterfinal game with Herrin, coming from behind to win 9-7 as move on to Tuesday's semifinal round.

Alex Zimmerman had a pair of hits at the plate and retired the final five batters of the game on the mound to earn a save for the Warriors.

"We got off to a bad start, but the our kids kept battling and kept their heads in the game," said DMS head coach Tim Craft. "That can be tough to do in a game with that much riding on it."

"Alex came in and shut the door facing the two main hitters that killed us earlier in the game. Then he came out and ran right through their lineup in the seventh."

Herrin got on the board first with a four-run top of the first against DMS starter Brian Winters, using three hits, a Warriors error and two walks to do the damage. Du Quoin got a run back in the bottom half when Winters was hit by a pitch and later scored on a passed ball, but Herrin's Nick Hunter tripled with two down in the top of the second inning and scored on Hayden Mofield's base hit to make it 5-1.

The Warriors seemed unaffected, however, sending eleven batters to the dish in the bottom of the inning and taking the lead with a six-spot. Two errors by Herrin helped Du Quoin's cause, and Winters delivered an RBI single. Owen Bradley and Konner Harris both added doubles in the Warriors' big inning.

Winters settled in on the mound for the next three innings, allowing Du Quoin to pad their lead with two more runs in the third. Tyler VanZandt (double) and Nick Depyatic (single) started the inning with hits and both would score. Zimmerman had an RBI single in the inning, and the Warriors were up 9-5.

VanZandt helped turn a fly ball out into a double play at first base to end Herrin's fifth and keep the Warriors up by four.

Herrin fought their way closer with two runs in the sixth, but Zimmerman came in and shut down the last five Herrin batters to preserve the victory for DMS.

Winters (1-1, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, HBP), Zimmerman (2-4, R, RBI), Bradley (2-4, 2B), Harris (1-4, R, 2B), VanZandt (1-4, R, 2B) and Depyatic (1-2, 2 R, BB) had DMS's 8 hits in the game.

The Warriors will meet Marion in the semifinals on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. at Centralia Rotary Park.

"We are going to have to be ready to play against Marion," said Craft. "They are a good team. As we found out a few weeks ago, we have to eliminate walks and errors against them. If not, they can put up a lot of runs."