Jacobs comes back to beat Dundee-Crown in 12 innings

The sun was about to set on Wednesday's epic playoff game in Algonquin, but the determined Jacobs baseball team refused to ride off into it.

After rallying to tie No. 4 Dundee-Crown with 3 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, top seed Jacobs scored the winning run in the 12th on a two-out error to win the Class 4A regional semifinal 5-4.

Jacobs advances to Saturday's regional title game against the winner of Thursday's semifinal between No. 2 Cary-Grove (23-8-2) and No. 3 Barrington (24-10).

"As a senior it means so much to be able to keep going in the playoffs," said Jacobs shortstop Matt Kozlak, who went 2-for-5 with 3 RBI.

With two outs in the 12th, Jacobs No. 9 hitter Mike Addante sent a 1-hopper toward the mound, which deflected off the glove of freshman Erik Hedmark for an infield hit. Had Hedmark let the ball go through, it would have been an easy play for shortstop Riley Alvarado to end the inning.

Instead, Addante reached safely and stole second on a 1-1 pitch to Ryan Sargent, and he high-tailed it to third when the throw to second base ended up in center field for an error.

Three pitches later, Sargent topped a 2-2 Hedmark offering to third base, but D-C first baseman Jared Ludwig was unable to handle the low throw from third baseman Matt Wiechmann, who had opened the game on the mound three hours and 36 minutes earlier.

"The boys left it all on the field," D-C coach Jon Anderson said. "We said at the beginning of the game to leave it all out on the field because this could be your last one. Unfortunately, it was. It's a tough way to lose a ballgame, I'll tell you that."

The winning run scored 12 minutes before the scheduled Algonquin sunset at 8:18 p.m.

"I was just relieved, honestly. It was such a long game," Sargent said. "I just felt like if we got past this first one, we'd have a chance to make a big run. This was kind of a trap game. We knew they were going to come out hard because we're rivals."

Jacobs (25-10) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Sargent led off with a walk from Wiechmann and later scored on Kozlak's one-out single.

Dundee-Crown (20-13) stormed back via the long ball. Ludwig tied it 1-1 in the second inning when he hammered a 1-1 pitch from Jacobs right-hander Ryan George for a home run to right-center field.

It stayed that way until the fourth inning until Alvarado pulled a solo shot over the fence in right to give the Chargers a 2-1 lead.

D-C added an unearned run in the fifth against George, who was lifted with one out in the inning.

The Chargers bulged their advantage to 4-1 against Jacobs reliever Evan Liebau in the sixth inning when Hedmark singled to drive in Alvarado, who led off with a double. It could have been worse, but Jacobs closer Johnny Rohde entered with runners at the corners and notched a strikeout to minimize the damage.

The Golden Eagles, a team that entered the playoffs batting .244, then rallied for 3 runs on 4 hits to knot the score. Casey Dennison and Tim Randl opened the frame with singles and Sargent drove in Dennison one out later to trim the deficit to 4-2.

With Golden Eagles at the corners, Kozlak stroked a 2-run double to left center against Alvarado, who had pitched the Chargers out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning. Sargent scored from first on the play to make it a new ballgame.

"After we tied the game up we felt pretty good, especially after being down 3 runs," Dennison said. "We had a lot of confidence going into (extra innings)."

Rohde allowed just 1 hit and struck out 6 batters in 3⅔ innings of scoreless relief, and winning pitcher Dennison finished up with 3 perfect frames to give the Jacobs offense a shot. Neither issued a walk.

Hedmark, a poised, young lefty, threw 5 ⅔ innings of scoreless relief for Dundee-Crown until the unearned run in the 12th ended his night and the Chargers' season.

"We never gave up," Hedmark said. "We never put our heads down, even after we lost our 3-run lead. We kept on battling. Baseball is a game of failure. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We just didn't come out on top and that's it."