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ALTON – In a closely contested game where all the scoring occurred in the final inning, Jersey came up with five runs in the seventh, then held on in the bottom of the inning to defeat Alton 5-2 in the Redbirds’ home opener Monday afternoon at Alton High School.
The Redbirds scored twice in the bottom of the seventh and had the bases loaded when a strikeout ended the game.
“We had great pitching and defense, and we played well enough to win,” said Alton head coach Scott Harper. “But unfortunately, we just couldn’t score enough to win.”
Neither team could really get anything going until the fateful seventh inning when both teams scored all seven runs in the game. Alton’s pitching has been very good in their first four games of the season, but the offense hasn’t been there as of yet.
“Our pitching and our defense have been good in the first four games,” Harper said. “We haven’t been getting a lot of offense, so every out and every play has been crucial.”
The Panthers’ seventh inning began with a Tucker Shalley single up the middle, a walk to Kyle Kahl and Zeke Waltz being hit by a pitch to load the bases. John Collins doubled to center to score Shalley and Kahl, with Waltz going to third. A walk to Ronnie Guilander reloaded the bases, where two more runs scored on a Garrett Carey single to left. Quinn Snider then lined into a double play, but on a Jacob Stocks single to right, an error by the right fielder allowed Carey to score to make the score 5-0.
The Redbirds rallied in the bottom of the frame, starting with a walk to Zack Knight and a double by Dylan Lahue to put runners on second and third. One out later, Jalen Wilson reached on an error by the shortstop, allowing Knight to score and Lahue to go to third. A Robby Taul double brought home Lahue, advancing Wilson to third, and Jackson Brooks walked to load the bases and bring up the potential winning run. Riley Phillips struck out to end the game.
Ethan Snider was two-for-four on the day for the Panthers, while Carey was one-for-three with two RBIs and Collins one-for-four with two RBIs. Taul, Adam Stilts, Lahue, and Wilson had all four of Alton’s hits, with Taul and Lahue having RBIs on the day.
The Panthers are now 1-2 on the season and host Piasa Southwestern Tuesday in a 4:30 p.m. first pitch. The Redbirds go to 1-3 and go on the road to face the Piasa Birds Thursday afternoon in a 4:30 p.m. start, and Harper knows his team will be ready to go for Thursday’s game.
“We’ll get back to work in practice tomorrow,” Harper said, “and get ready to take our next steps.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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