BASEBALL: Benton out-hits Du Quoin; Warriors split at Carlyle

Benton racked up 14 runs on 14 hits in Monday's junior high baseball game at Du Quoin, racing past the Warriors 14-6 as DMS put up only five hits at the plate.

Much like they did against Flora on Saturday, the Warriors fell into an early 7-0 hole against the Rangers on Monday at the Ballpark at DHS, in a game originally scheduled to take place at Benton, but moved to Du Quoin due to wet field conditions.

But unlike their game at Carlyle two days earlier, there was no near-comeback by DMS to make Monday's game more interesting. The Rangers held on, piling on insurance runs in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings to hang on.

Stranded base runners haunted Du Quoin on Saturday afternoon, but it was a lack of base runners altogether that did them in against Benton. Only Alex Zimmerman (1-1, R, 2B, HBP), Braeden Pursell (1-4, RBI), A.J. Rice (1-1, RBI), Owen Bradley (1-1, R, HBP) and Jacob Green (1-1, R) had hits for the Warriors on Monday.

Du Quoin (1-2) will try to get back on track on Thursday when they travel to Chester. The first pitch will take place around 4:00 p.m.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">DMS splits two at Carlyle</span>

Du Quoin Middle School opened their 2014 baseball season with a pair of games at Carlyle on Saturday, knocking off the host 8-7 in an extra-inning affair before dropping their game with Flora 8-6 after almost erasing a 7-0 deficit.

Carlyle jumped ahead 3-0 against Warriors starter Logan Morgan, but Morgan was able to settle in and didn't allow another earned run during his six innings of work on the mound.

DMS tied it up in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Alex Zimmerman and a two-run double by Braeden Pursell, but Carlye got an unearned run in the bottom half on a pair of errors.

Morgan evened things up again in the top of the fifth with his RBI double to plate Josh Heape (double), then the Warriors took their first lead in the seventh after a Pursell double and RBI singles by Slade West and Owen Bradley.

But Carlyle tied it at 6-6 with two in the seventh against Zimmerman.

Du Quoin responded with two more runs in the top of the eighth with three singles, one apiece from Zimmerman, Westly Milam and West, then Carlyle stranded the tying run at second base in the bottom of the inning to give DMS the 8-7 victory.

Morgan (1-3, RBI, 2B, BB), Zimmerman (2-5, 2 R, RBI), Milam (1-5, RBI), Pursell (2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2 2B), West (3-5, 2 RBI), Heape (2-4, R, 2B) and Bradley (2-5, RBI) supplied Du Quoin's thirteen hits against Carlyle.

The highlight performance of the day on the mound for DMS came in their game two loss to Flora.

Left-hander Tyler VanZandt, the third Warrior to take the hill in the game, pitched four hitless innings of relief only to receive a no-decision for his efforts. VanZandt allowed just one walk and struck out three.

But the damage had been done early in the game by Flora. DMS pitchers allowed ten walks in the first four innings and trailed 7-0 in the middle of the second before mounting a comeback.

Bradley and Morgan had hits during a four-run second for DMS, then Pursell, West and Bradley each reached base in the third as the Warriors crept to within three at 8-5.

Heape added an RBI double in the fifth, but the Warriors stranded 15 runners on base in the game and missed out on several scoring opportunities.

Morgan (3-4, R), Zimmerman (2-3, R, BB), Pursell (3-4, R), West (2-4, R, 2B), Heape (1-4, RBI, 2B) and Bradley (2-3, R, RBI) had hits for Du Quoin in game two.

The Warriors (1-1) are back in action on Monday at Benton (4:00 p.m.).