Indians down Anna-Jonesboro for another three-win week

DU QUOIN -- After a few bumps in the road, the Du Quoin High School baseball team seems to have figured some things out.
The Indians went 3-1 for the second straight week after downing Anna-Jonesboro, 8-3, Friday for a key SIRR Mississippi Division victory.
Du Quoin improved to 12-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference with the win.
"There for a couple of weeks it was all about adjustments," said Du Quoin coach Kyle Geiger. "We weren't adjusting then and now they're starting to figure out how to make those adjustments during a game. From at-bat to at-bat and pitch to pitch.
"And now they're getting kind of hot."
Bryzn Witcher pitched a complete game against the Wildcats and also doubled and accounted for a pair of runs. A-J had runners on base in every inning except the seventh and it took 96 pitches, but Witcher scattered nine hits efficiently enough and struck out three.
"Bryzn kept us on our toes defensively and we played good solid defense and didn't give away outs," Geiger said. "Great defense and a great pitching performance. And knowing who we were going to face, we had a great approach in practice and made good adjustments. We knew we couldn't overswing and we just put the ball and they made a couple mistakes."
That statement was in reference to Anna-Jonesboro's Hunter Ralls, who also pitched a complete game. But the Indians put up two in the first with the help of three errors, then added a run in the second before tacking on four in the fourth.
Kyle Donoghue singled in a run, Alex Zimmerman doubled in a run and Tevin Lee plated a run with a single in that fourth-inning rally.
Will Woodside reached and scored on an unusual play in the sixth when Ralls thought he had gotten the third out on a comebacker by Zimmerman and tossed the ball toward the pitcher's mound after making the tag.
But on the other side, the Indians made just one error that turned out to be harmless. Most of the Wildcats' damage came from Ethan Krumrey, who had three of their nine hits
"The last couple of weeks I've been preaching that we can't give away outs," Geiger said. "No errors. We have to play clean defense and we did tonight."
The Indians are scheduled to play at Nashville on Monday, then travel to Pinckneyville for a makeup conference game Tuesday and play at Benton on Wednesday.