Panthers bats fall cold in season-opening loss to Mt. Vernon

The Panthers bats fell cold in their home and season-opener Wednesday evening, falling to Mt. Vernon after five innings, 11-1. <br />Offensively, Pinckneyville failed to do much of anything at the plate, collecting just two hits, with its lone offense coming from a solo home run from sophomore Austin Alspach over the right field wall in the second-inning. <br />"Yea (the bats fell cold today) and I'm not really sure why," Pinckneyville head coach Gabe Shepard said. "We have been hitting the ball well in practice. I think its just more of, maybe we were getting fooled a little bit looking for the curveball."<br />On top of just two hits, the Panthers struggled to pull the trigger at times, striking out eight times, with six of them caught looking. <br />"We took way too many two-strike fastballs right down the gut and that's not something we have been doing (in practice)," Shepard said. "Defensively, we didn't put much pressure on them to do much at all and you have to put pressure on the other team."<br />Mt. Vernon got the majority of its offense early, tagging starting pitcher Grant Jausel with six hits and seven runs in the first inning. The Panthers were able to stop the bleeding in the inning with a strike out and throw out double play. <br />A couple of fielding miscues didn't help the issue, as Shepard wasn't disappointed with his Junior hurler's effort given the frigid temperatures. <br />"Even in the first, for being as it cold as it was, I thought he (Jausel) threw the ball pretty well. But we have to make plays behind him," Shepard said. "We had a couple missed here and there that really kind of prolonged the inning longer than it should have been."<br />Tyler Rulevish got the first hit of the game for the Panthers in the bottom of the first on an infield single after back-to-back strike outs looking to start the inning. But, the Panthers couldn't capitalize as Dylan Carns flew out to right-field to end the inning. <br />The Panthers were able to slow down the Mt. Vernon offense considerably after the first, with Hunter Clark relieving Jausel to start the second inning. <br />Clark pitched a scoreless second, striking out the final batter with the bases loaded. <br />Alspach gave the Panthers some life in the bottom of the second with a home run that carried over the right-field wall to cut the deficit, 7-1. <br />But, that would be the extend of Pinckneyville's offensive threats, as they were unable to collect another hit the rest of the game. <br />Mt. Vernon added two runs in the top of the third on a two-run home run after Clark led the inning off with a walk. <br />The Rams added on two more in the top of the fifth-inning after Alspach walked the first three batters of the inning, with Kyle Kreger coming in to close it out after a two-rbi double.<br />Leading by 10, the Rams picked up the five-inning run-ruled win with a one-two-three bottom of the fifth inning. <br />The Panthers will look to put the first game of the season behind them, resuming action Friday evening at Okawville. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m.