Ex-Panther Pilackas looks forward to playing for SWIC
Transfer from Lebanon had six HRs as senior
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| SUBMITTED PHOTO As his mother, Ann, looks on, O'Fallon's John Pilackas signs a letter of intent to play baseball at Southwestern Illinois College. In the back row are OTHS head coach Jason Portz (left) and OTHS assitant coach Joe Bauer. |
smarion@yourjournal.com
In his only season on the O'Fallon baseball team, John Pilackas displayed a knack for getting the clutch hit.Now he'll get to show his abilities on the next level.
A 2008 OTHS graduate, Pilackas recently signed a letter of intent to play next season at Southwestern Illinois College.
"SWIC is a great fit for John," said O'Fallon coach Jason Portz. "Coach (Neil) Fiala is excited to have John in his program and thinks that he has a lot of room to grow as a player and should compete at first base and a corner outfield position.
"John is athletic. He runs well and has great power at the plate. In my years as coach at O'Fallon, I have not had a player display the type of consistent power that John possesses.
"John has the potential to hit the ball out of the park at any time. Some of the displays that he put on during batting practice were impressive, and at the end of the season that consistency in BP started to transfer to game situations. He was a real spark for our lineup."
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Pilackas, who transferred from Lebanon after his junior year, was one of the top players off the bench for the O'Fallon basketball team, which lost in the Class 4A super-sectional on a last-second shot. In baseball, he was the Panthers' designed hitter and had the game-winning three-run homer in the regional final against Belleville West. For the season, he batted .423 with four doubles, one triple, six home runs and 28 RBI.
"It was a big adjustment coming from a school with 250 kids to one with maybe 2,500," said Pilackas, a right-handed hitter. "It was a big jump, but I definitely got acclimated and it's been a pretty fun ride.
"For college, I was pretty much looking at baseball because I felt I would have more opportunity. I was definitely looking to go the junior college route. I can play two years, get better and the opportunity to play instead of going to a four-year college where I might have to sit the first two years. Hopefully I can go to the D-I or D-II level after that."
A three-sport athlete at Lebanon (including golf), Pilackas also had to adjust to playing a large-school schedule in basketball and baseball.
"You have to play a lot more athletic teams in the Southwestern Conference," Pilackas said. "In baseball, you'd see a lot better pitchers than you would over at Lebanon. Coming here definitely helped me prepare for going to the next level."
Fiala has built a reputation for developing players for four-year schools and for professional baseball, and that also factored into Pilackas' decision.
"A lot of his players end up going Division I or a high level after they go to SWIC," Pilackas said. "A lot of O'Fallon kids have gone there, including Brian Gass and Jordan Colvin. It's definitely one of the up-and-coming junior college baseball teams around the area.
"Our hitting coach, Joe Bauer, coached there a while back. He told me that SWIC would be a good fit for me and I took his word.
"I'm looking to play first base, DH, maybe some outfield. I'll play anywhere they need me, really."
Pilackas also considered St. Charles Community College, John Wood Community College in Quincy, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, Robert Morris College in Springfield and Maryville University in St. Louis.
"Academically, I'm looking at majoring in someone with biology or medicine, but I haven't really specified it yet," Pilackas said. "After two years (at SWIC) I'll be able to pick something for sure and after going to a four-year college, I'll know what I want to do."
