PREP BASEBALL: Vanost sparkles in debut, hurls Jersey past Alton

Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com

 Published 9:41 pm CDT, Monday, March 18, 2019

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Greg Shashack / The Telegraph

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Jersey’s Kyle Kahl (3) slides safely across the plate with Jersey’s second run and his greeted by Tucker Shalley after he scored Jersey’s first run in the seventh inning to break a 0-0 tie Monday

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GODFREY – The Jersey Panthers attempted to suppress expectations for Jeremy Vanost’s first varsity pitching appearance.

It was a wasted effort.

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Vanost turned in six shutout innings and was rewarded with a win after the Panthers broke a scoreless tie in a long seventh inning to beat the Alton Redbirds 5-2 on Monday at Alton High.

“I was blown away,” said Jersey catcher John Collins, whose bases-loaded, two-run single with nobody out in the seventh gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead. “Jeremy Vanost, coach Perdun told him before the game, hey, just get two or three solid innings. That’s all we need and then we’ve got guys who can come in and back you up.”

Vanost needed no backup until the seventh. The junior right-hander shut down the Redbirds on two hits and no walks while striking out six on 80 pitches.

“He gave us six, almost perfect, innings,” Collins said. “It was amazing.”

It was a welcome boost for the 1-2 Panthers after opening their season with losses to Waterloo Gibault and Roxana on Saturday at Roxana Park. “Losing Saturday, that was a heartbreaker,” Collins said. “We shook that off and played well today.”

Alton, coming off a no-hit 2-0 win over Coal City on Saturday, drops to 1-3. Since a season-opening 13-0 defeat to Chatham Glenwood, the Redbirds have turned three winning pitching performances into losses.

Adam Stilts got the start against Jersey and worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing three hits, two walks and striking out five. John Durrwachter followed with 1 1/3 innings to preserve a 0-0 tie through six innings.

“So far,” Alton coach Scott Harper said. “we’re real pleased with our pitching.”

But with Alex Gates struggling with command, surrendering a single by Tucker Shalley on a 3-2 pitch, hitting a batter and walking another to load the bases with nobody out in the seventh, the Panthers struck with Collins delivering the key hit on the first pitch offered from Zack Knight, who relieved Gates.

“Getting it in play was the main goal,” Collins said. “Getting it where someone wasn’t was the hope. I wanted to get it in the air to the outfield, but I ended up hitting it on the ground through the middle and getting two RBIs. It felt good.”

The Panthers piled on with another walk and Garrett Carey’s two-run single to make the lead 4-0. A fifth run scored on Jacob Stocks’ single to right.

“I give our guys a lot of credit that they were on it from pitch 1,” Jersey coach Darren Perdun said. “And Jeremy Vanost did a great job coming out and throwing strikes. Man, he was on it today.”

Alton threatened in the seventh against Jersey reliever Garrett Carey with doubles from Dylan Lahue and Robby Taul. But even with the aid of a Jersey error and two walks, the rally ended with the bases loaded.

Ethan Snider had two hits and Carey matched Collins with two RBIs for the Panthers, who outhit the Redbirds 9-4. Alton has yet to score more than two runs in a game and has been shutout twice while hitting .157 as a team.

“It’s early,” Harper said. “The bats are cold, with the weather. Hopefully, they heat up as we go. … We’re having some pretty good at-bats. We’ve just got to find our way. … We’re just not getting that big hit. We did on Saturday. They’re going to come, we just have to keep working at it.”