Sargent in command as Jacobs blanks Cary-Grove
Jacobs senior Ryan Sargent has a baseball scholarship to play the outfield at Ohio University next season.
Considering how well he pitched Monday in a 3-0 regional title-game victory over Cary-Grove in Algonquin, the Bobcats may be forced to take a longer look at the right-hander on the mound when he arrives in Athens.
Sargent effectively mixed his pitches to limit No. 2 Cary-Grove (24-9-2) - a team that won the Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference and entered the playoffs hitting .323 - to 2 hits in a complete-game victory.
Sargent (4-2) issued a lone walk and struck out 9 to seal the third regional championship in as many years for top seed Jacobs (26-10), which set a new single-season record for victories.
"We knew they were a good hitting team," Sargent said. "I just really wanted to get ahead, throw strikes, work in the curveball. Once I got in the groove it was tough to stop me."
The win advances Jacobs to a Class 4A Cary-Grove sectional semifinal against DeKalb (19-16) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Golden Eagles defeated DeKalb 11-1 in six innings on April 6.
"I'm proud. It says a lot about our guys," Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said of knocking off the FVC Valley champs after finishing 3 games behind the Trojans in the regular season. "Cary-Grove is outstanding and to do it against a team like that and the last two years, Barrington, I mean, our guys deserve the credit."
Nick Franz (7-3) pitched well for the Trojans. The 6-foot-2, 160-pound senior right-hander held the Golden Eagles to 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits and a walk in 4⅓ innings. However, Cary-Grove's normally reliable defense committed 4 errors behind him and the offense couldn't deliver the timely hit against Sargent.
"He pitched fantastic," Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland said of Franz. "You need offense and defense behind a good pitching performance or you risk losing. Their pitcher controlled the entire game."
Jacobs jumped to a first-inning lead. Sargent led off with a double to the right-field corner, advanced on Matt Kozlak's groundout and scored on a hard-hit groundball off the bat of Owen Oreskovich.
"I was just looking for a pitch middle-in, something to drive," Oreskovich said, "and I just hit it up the middle."
The Trojans couldn't cash in when they had chances. With runners at first and second with one out in the first inning, Sargent induced a double-play grounder turned by second baseman Kyle Wolinski and Kozlak at short.
In the third inning, Sargent struck out No. 3 hitter Tyler Pennington with a curveball to strand runners at first and second.
Cary-Grove threatened again in the fifth when No. 8 hitter Connor Leach beat out an infield hit and Willie Hartke reached on a double error by the Jacobs second baseman, putting Trojans at second and third with one out. However, Sargent escaped by striking out Larkin Hanselmann and Matt Sutherland looking at fastballs on the outside corner, which the home plate umpire consistently called strikes all day.
"He's got a variety of pitches and he's a competitor on the mound," Don Sutherland said of Sargent. "He did a great job. Our kids never adjusted to him or the strike zone, it seems like."
Jacobs added 2 insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth to take command. Kozlak's hard-hit grounder got past the drawn-in infield for an error, allowing Tim Randl to score the second run of the game. Kozlak later scored on Daniel Tenayuca's double for a 3-0 lead.
Cary-Grove reliever Jimmy Perkins ended the threat by striking out 2 Golden Eagles with the bases loaded, but it was more than enough run support for Sargent. He retired the final 8 hitters he faced to send the Jacobs to the sectional round for the third straight season.
"This feels great," Sargent said. "Really big for Jacobs baseball. And we're not done yet."