Jacobs gets the upper hand on Huntley

Among the Jacobs baseball program's notable achievements from last season's record-setting 25-win campaign were its first regional and sectional championships.

However, a prize the Golden Eagles did not get their talons on was the title in the highly competitive Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference. Huntley and Crystal Lake South shared that accomplishment.

Jacobs has never won a FVC baseball title, but it took an important first step toward filling that resume gap by knocking off cofavorite Huntley 2-1 in a well-pitched game in Algonquin Tuesday. The win improved Jacobs to 13-5 overall, 7-0 in the FVC. Huntley slipped to 11-3-1, 5-1.

"It's huge because we feel like Huntley is probably the best team in our conference," said Jacobs right fielder Tim Hubner, who drove in the game's first run and made a sliding catch on a sinking line drive to end the game. "We feel like if we can win this one, then we can win conference if we keep it up."

The pitcher's duel between senior right-handers Reilly Peltier (2-1) of Jacobs and Huntley's Eric Luecht (4-1) was decided by an unearned run.

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Jacobs had runners at first and second with two outs when Luecht induced a popup to short right field off the bat of No. 5 hitter Matt Kozlak.

Huntley's second baseman went back on the ball and got a glove on it, but it popped out of his mitt for an error. That allowed Danny Vandewalker, who drew a leadoff walk, to score from second base with the go-ahead run.

"Unfortunately, we didn't make a play," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "It happens. Errors are part of the game."

Jacobs closer Jake Jemmi entered in the seventh and retired the side in order with 2 strikeouts to notch his fourth save in as many opportunities. That made a winner of Peltier, who struggled a bit with his control but made up for it via the strikeout. The 6-foot-4 senior walked 6 batters in a 107-pitch outing, including the leadoff man in four innings. He wiggled out of trouble by fanning 13 Red Raiders.

"It wasn't really my nerves; it was more my mechanics," Peltier said. "I was pretty hyped up and wasn't focusing on my mechanics. My dad was filming me today so I could go back and look at it, and I just made changes off of that."

Jacobs grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Kozlak and Owen Oreskovich drew walks and Hubner delivered a two-out hit. Down in the count 0-2, the right-handed hitter reached across the plate to get a piece of a slider breaking low and away from him. He poked a single up the middle to drive in the only earned run against Luecht, who held Jacobs to 3 hits, walked three and struck out four in a 76-pitch outing.

Huntley tied the game in the third inning, when catcher Mark Skonieczny pulled a single to left field with two outs that scored Dillon DellAquila. However, Peltier stranded runners in scoring position in four other innings and used a double play to quash another chance.

"Both guys showed why they are each other's Nos. 1," Jakubowski said. "It was a well-pitched game. Unfortunately, their guy was a little bit better and we struggled a little bit offensively making adjustments."

The rivals conclude their two-game series Thursday in Huntley.