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Chester baseball Yellow Jackets start season 5-4

The Chester Yellow Jacket baseball team opened their season with nine games in 10 days. The result is a winning 5-4 record and some tired young men.

<b>Steeleville 11; CHS 0</b>

The Steeleville Warriors gave the Yellow Jackets a rude awakening March 18 in the season opener at the Chester Cohen Recreation Complex. Chester had 0 runs, one hit and one error. Steeleville's Jordan Wilson got the win and Chester's Ethen Eggemeyer took the loss. Chester's Hunter Munie went 1-for-2 at the plate while Steeleville's Bradley Mevert was 1-3 with 2 RBI; Jacob Sutton was 1-4 with 2 RBI; Owen Gross was 0-2 with 2 RBI; and Austin Hagel was 2-4 with 1 RBI.

<b>CHS 11; Pinckneyville 7</b>

The Jackets rebounded the very next day on the road against former River-to-River foe, Pinckneyville. Chester's Michael Wingerter got the first win of the season from the mound and the Panther's Alspach got the loss.

Chester sent 33 batters to the plate and had 11 hits for the day with 8 RBI's and four bases on balls. They also left eight men on base and had eight strikeouts. Pinckneyville sent 30 batters to the plate and scored eight times with 7 hits, 5 RBI's, 10 bases on balls, 8 strike outs and 13 men left on base.

Chester Head Coach Trevor Kelkhoff said his team hit the ball well, "and hustled on the bases, taking advantage of passed balls and stealing 10 bases.

"Our batters put a lot of pressure on Pinckneyville's defense and our pitching staff worked themselves out of troubled situations," he added.

<b>CHS 11; Marissa 10</b>

CHS played its third game in three days on March 20, returning to the friendly confines of Cohen Field 1 and getting some much-needed home field support to get an exciting win.

CHS sent 30 batters to the plate for 11 runs on 12 hits and 7 RBI's. Five players reached base on walks and seven struck out. The Jackets left seven men on base. Marissa sent 27 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs on 7 hits with 6 RBI's. The Meteors had 12 strike outs and they left 9 men on base.

Ethan Bert was Chester's winning pitcher. He gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, walked 3 batters and struck out 12. Marissa's C. Bowlby was the losing pitcher. He pitched 6.2 innings, giving up 12 hits and 111 runs. He walked five Yellow Jackets and struck out seven.

<b>Du Quoin 6; CHS 0</b>

A tired Yellow Jacket squad played its fourth game in a row on March 21 at Du Quoin. Chester sent 22 batters to the plate in futility, scoring 0 runs and getting just three hits. CHS had just one runner advance on balls and had 7 strike out. The Indians, meanwhile, sent 26 batters to the plate, scoring 6 runs on eight hits with 6 RBI's. Only four batters struck out, but they did leave 11 men on base.

The winning pitcher was Slade West. He pitched 2 innings, giving up just 1 hit and walking 1 batter, with 3 strikeouts. Chester's losing pitcher was Devin Straight who pitched four innings, giving up 8 hits and 6 runs. He walked 7 Indians and struck out 4 batters.

<b>Frankfort 7; CHS 2</b>

The Jackets played their fifth game in a row on March 22 against Frankfort at home. Frankfort beat Chester, but the game could have gone either way.

Frankfort stormed out of the gate with three runs in the top of the first. Chester answered with one run in the bottom of the first. Both teams were scoreless in the second and both teams scored one run in the third for a 4-2 Frankfort lead. Frankfort would score again in the fourth and sixth innings, but Chester was shut out the rest of the game.

Frankfort scored 7 runs on 9 hits and two walks. Chester scored just two runs on four hits and two walks. Frankfort had 5 RBI's, CHS had 1. Five Frankfort players struck out, the Jackets had 9. Frankfort left five men on base; Chester stranded six.

Frankfort's Connor Eaton pitched the entire 7 innings, while Chester used Ethen Eggemeyer (3 innings) and Chett Andrews (4 innings). Eaton walked two batters while Chester's Eggemeyer and Andrews each walked 1 apiece. Eaton struck out 9 Yellow Jackets and Eggemeyer struck out 5 Frankfort batters.

<b>CHS 18; B.-Webber 3

CHS 21; B.-Webber 5</b>

On March 23 the Yellow Jackets traveled to Bulford-Webber for a doubleheader, handily winning both.

In Game 1 Owen Korando was the winning pitcher, throwing 4.1 innings, and giving up 4 hits and 3 runs. He walked 4 batters and struck out 4. Ethan Bert relieved for 1.2 innings with 3 hits, 1 walk and 2 strike outs.

H. Landreth was the losing pitcher. He threw 5 innings, gave up 15 hits, 13 runs, walked 6 Yellow Jackets and struck out 3. He had relief from two other pitcher, Groff and Hicks.

The Yellow Jackets had 18 runs, 18 hits, 17 RBI's, six walks and left 10 men on base. Webber had 3 runs, 7 hits, 3 RBI's, five walks and six strike outs. They likewise left 10 men on base. Nick Meyer and Chett Andrews led the Jackets at the plate with 3 hits apiece. Meyer had three RBI's.

In Game 2 Chester had 10 hits and 18 RBIs. The Jackets had 10 boys reach base on balls, but also had 11 strike out. CHS left 6 men on base. Webber had 5 hits and 5 RBIs, with 4 boys reach base on balls and 4 strikeouts. They stranded 4 men on base. Hayden Gendron was the winning pitcher for Chester and Rodenbush was the losing pitcher for Webber.

Chester's Ethen Eggemeyer led the Jackets at the plate going 3-4 with a home run. He scored 3 runs and had 6 RBIs. Ethan Bert was 2-3 with four runs, 2 RBIs and a walk. Jaden Mott was 2-4 with one run scored, 3 RBIs and 1 base on balls.

<b>Gibault 18; CHS 13</b>

CHS had just two games the week of March 25-29. The first was March 26 at Waterloo Gibault. In the slugfest, Chester sent 37 batters to the plate for 13 runs, 15 hits, 13 RBIs, 7 walks and 10 strikeouts. They stranded 10 runners on base. Gibault sent 34 batters to the plate for 18 runs on 10 hits and 14 RBIs. They had 8 walks and 10 strikeouts. They stranded 8 runners.

Gibault led 8-2 after one inning of play then added more runs in every inning thereafter. Chester was scoreless until the fourth inning when they scored one run. In the 5th inning the Jackets had a nice 7-run inning then added another 3 runs in the top of the 7th.

<b>CHS 3; Sparta 2</b>

The final game of the week was a nailbiter against Sparta on the road. Chester's Ethen Eggemeyer got the win for CHS and Sparta's Cometto took the loss.

Eggemeyer threw 6.2 innings, allowing 7 hits and 2 runs. He struck out 13 Bulldogs and allowed no walks. Cometto pitched 3 innings and allowed 3 hits and 0 runs. He walked 2 batters and struck out one Yellow Jacket.

The Yellow Jackets sent 31 batters to the plate, scoring 3 runs on 11 hits and 2 RBIs. CHS had 5 walks and 4 strikeouts. They stranded 12 men on base. Sparta had 27 batters that scored 2 run on 7 hits with 2 RBIs. Chester struck out 13 batters. Sparta left 6 men on base.

Michael Wingerter and Chett Andrews each got 2 hits on 4 bats in the win. Wingerter scored a run and struck out once. Andrews was 2-4 at the plate with 1 RBI and he struck out once.