BASEBALL: Derousse outduels Bigham, Panthers lose 1-0

Carterville's Ashton Derousse outdueled Pinckneyville's Cole Bigham in a match-up of premiere left-handers, as the Lions squeaked out a 1-0 win over the Panthers on a sacrifice fly by Gavin Zimbro in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Panthers managed only two hits off of Derousse on the day and never touched third base on offense.

"Once again we had a left-hander pitcher that just kept us off track," said PCHS head coach Gabe Shepard. "We couldn't square the ball up. We saw lots of pitches, but just never could get anything going."

Bigham was equally impressive on the hill, allowing just five hits and a walk with six strikeouts, but was the hard-luck loser for the Panthers.

"You can't ask for anything more out of your pitcher than that," Shepard said.

Derousse also scored the winning run for the Lions after reaching on one of two softly hit singles for Carterville in the seventh in front of Zimbro's sac fly to left field.

Pinckneyville's two hits came from Adam Banach (1-3) - a two-out single in the fourth - and Nolan Luke (1-3) - a two-out single in the sixth.

The Panthers (6-7, 1-2) host Nashville on Wednesday and Sparta on Thursday as SIRR Mississippi Division play continues.