Jacobs joins elite cast for Class 4A baseball finale
The Jacobs baseball team is hoping to play the part of the fire-breathing dragon this weekend in a Game of Dethrones.
To win the state championship in their first trip to the state finals in Joliet, the Golden Eagles are tasked with unseating Illinois high school baseball royalty.
The three other qualifiers - semifinal opponent Mt. Carmel, Providence and Oak Park-River Forest - not only rank among the most-decorated programs in tournament history, each has made history recently. OP-RF won the Class 4A title in 2012, Mt. Carmel won in 2013, and 2014 champ Providence is the reigning king.
Combined, they've reached the state finals 25 times and won 7 titles.
Jacobs coach Jamie Murray says his team respects all but fears none, particularly in the wake of a 5-3 victory over Mt. Carmel on April 30.
"We know they're a traditional powerhouse in the state and we know we'll have our hands full," Murray said of Mt. Carmel, "We're looking forward to earning respect, not just around the Fox Valley but throughout the state."
Jacobs is the only first-timer in the group, but Murray's bunch undoubtedly has the full attention of the Caravan.
"We know how good they are," Mt. Carmel coach Brian Hurry said of Jacobs Thursday. "They beat us so that's all you need to know. They're very good."
Though the upstart Jacobs program can't match the pedigree of the other three programs involved, no team holds a monopoly on a winning formula.
"There is no coach who can tell me you've got to do this, this and this to win the state championship," Oak Park-River Forest coach Chris Ledbetter said. "When you're in the Final Four with teams like this, playing well doesn't even guarantee you're going to win. It just doesn't.
"All we can do is go out and play our best baseball and hope that we've prepared them for all the situations they'll be faced with. We have to play the games out and we have to enjoy it. And maybe at the end of the day on Saturday we'll be hoisting the trophy."
Here's a look at each of the finalists.
Jacobs Golden Eagles (29-10)
Not only are the Golden Eagles the first baseball team in program history to reach a state semifinal, they are the first boys team to do so in any sport since the Algonquin school opened in 1975.
Led by a strong-armed pitching staff and a solid defense, Jacobs aims to knock off a couple of state powers to earn a place among Illinois baseball elite.
Pitching has been the team's strength all season. Led by senior right-handers Ryan Sargent (5-2, 1.54 ERA), Ryan George (8-0, 2.08), Casey Dennison (4-2, 1.58) and junior closer Johnny Rohde (12 saves, 0.85), the Golden Eagles enter the finals with a 1.67 team ERA.
George beat the Caravan in April with his assortment of off-speed pitches, but Sargent will get the call Friday, Murray said.
Sargent's last two starts were gems against good-hitting teams Cary-Grove and Rockford Boylan. In 13 innings in those 2 wins, the Ohio University signee did not allow a run on 6 hits, struck out 13 and walked 3. This season he has struck out 64 and walked 17.
"He's been ready for this all week," Murray said. "Sarge has big-game experience and he's ready for the challenge of facing Mt. Carmel's lineup, which is incredible one through nine."
Jacobs enters the finals hitting .249 as a team, but its offense has been better in the postseason. In 5 playoff victories, the Golden Eagles are hitting .268 (42-for-157).
The team's top two hitters sit atop the lineup. Leadoff man Sargent is hitting .274 with 18 walks and 26 runs scored. No. 2 hitter Matt Kozlak (.333, 10 doubles, 3 triples, 27 RBI), a shortstop, is the only player with a batting average above .300. The senior has upped his game in the playoffs, batting .400 (8-for-20) with 2 doubles.
The Golden Eagles' 6 hits against Stevenson in the Rockford supersectional were mostly of the infield variety, but they prevailed by holding the Patriots to 2 hits and playing errorless defense. Jacobs did not commit an error against Boylan or Stevenson.
"The easy answer is to say the strengths of our team are pitching and defense, but I believe another factor is how close these guys have become to a man," Murray said. "They have fun and they love being around each other. You can't underestimate a team of athletes that's as close as these guys are."
Mt. Carmel Caravan (35-4)
It would take less space to list the members of the Caravan not committed to college baseball programs than to list those who are.
The roster for the Catholic League Blue champs reads like a showcase program. It includes third baseman A.J. Lewis (Missouri), shortstop Jeremy Houston (Indiana), second baseman Ako Thomas (Michigan), first baseman Malik Carpenter (Chicago State), catcher Scott Kapers (Valparaiso), center fielder Josh Stowers (Louisville), sophomore outfielder Bobby Seymour (Wake Forest) and pitcher Nelson Munoz (Grambling State).
Thomas, Kapers, Stowers and Carpenter started for the 2013 state championship team.
Thomas is batting a team-best .408 with 14 doubles, and 4 home runs, followed by Houston (.396, 7 2B, 25 RBI), Lewis (.394, 3 HR, 30 RBI), Stowers (.383, 8 2B, 25 RBI), Seymour (.367, 3 HR, 33 RBI), Carpenter (.351, 7 2B, 4 HR) and freshman Alex Thomas (.337, 7 HR, 20 RBI).
"We can hit, but we also have a solid defensive team and we're pretty athletic," Mt. Carmel coach Brian Hurry said.
The 16th-year coach said as of Thursday afternoon he had not decided on a pitcher to face Jacobs. He said the original plan was to throw Munoz in the semifinal (13-0, 74⅔ IP, 2.25 ERA, 85 K, 19 BB), but he was drawn into Tuesday's supersectional victory against Plainfield North in relief and threw 2 innings.
"The rainout (Monday) really screwed us up," Hurry said. "Maybe Munoz will be fine when he plays catch. I don't know. I have to see how he feels."
Mt. Carmel enters the state finals on an 8-game winning streak, including the title game of the rugged Steven M. Bajenski pre-playoff tournament. The Caravan knocked off previous MaxPreps national No. 1 St. Rita twice in that span, including a 5-4 victory in the Mt. Carmel sectional final.
Hurry said his team won't take first-time state qualifier Jacobs lightly.
"We need to play our best game to beat this team," he said. "We saw what they're made of. We've got to stay focused and play the best baseball we can possibly play."
Providence (29-11)
The defending state champion Celtics won't relinquish their crown without a fight.
Providence returns five starters from its 2014 title team, including senior pitcher Brent Villasenor. The University of Chicago-bound right-hander followed up his 7-1 junior campaign by going 8-3 this season with a 2.36 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 18 walks in 59⅓ innings.
Villasenor gets the start in Friday's semifinal against Oak Park-River Forest at 5 p.m., according to coach Mark Smith.
Rotation mate Jake Carlsen leads the Celtics in innings pitched (62⅔) and strikeouts (47) and boasts a 2.23 earned-run average.
Pitcher Justin Hunniford (6-1) may be a familiar name to Fox Valley Conference fans. He quarterbacked Providence to the Class 7A state championship against Cary-Grove last November. The senior owns a 0.78 earned-run average in 36 innings with 25 strikeouts and 8 walks.
"The biggest thing for us has been pitching and defense for the most part," Smith, in his ninth season guiding the Celtics, said Thursday. "We've played well in those areas and that's kept us in games. We swing the bats pretty well and we've gotten timely hits. It's not how many hits you get, it's when you get them."
Junior left-handed batter Mike Madej leads all regulars with a .416 batting average to go with 12 doubles, 5 triples, 2 home runs and 31 RBI. Other hitting leaders include Matt Wazins (.376, 32 RBI), Hunniford (.358, 24 RBI), Jackson Dvorak (.354, 7 2B, 30 RBI) and Matt Diehl (.323, 3 HR).
The Celtics don't give up easily. They trailed a sectional semifinal against Marist 2-0, but rallied for 2 runs in the seventh and won it in the ninth on a single by Diehl. They also won a back-and-forth supersectional game against O'Fallon by rallying for 2 runs in the sixth and winning it in the seventh when Madej was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
"Winning like that can make you more dangerous than top-level talent," Oak Park-River Forest's Ledbetter said. "Now you combine that with the fact they do have talent and they've got that swagger, and rightfully so."
Oak Park-River Forest (30-7)
The Huskies' tremendous team speed pressures opposing defenses to make plays.
Ledbetter, who admits he hates to sacrifice bunt - "I'm sorry, I just don't believe in it," he said. "I hate giving up outs." - says his team has bunted more this season than the last 10 combined. But his players are bunting for hits, not to give themselves up.
No one is better at it laying the bunt down than Jefferson College-bound outfielder Ryan Fish. The senior has three walk-off bunts this season, including a bases-loaded bunt against Lyons Township that scored another speedster, junior second baseman Jeremy Gaines, committed to Missouri.
Fish hits .354 with 8 doubles, 4 triples and 28 RBI. Gaines is batting .349 with 9 doubles and has scored 29 runs.
Louisville-bound catcher Patrick Rumoro sets the tone for the Huskies offensively and defensively. A three-year varsity starter, he enters the finals hitting .378 with 10 doubles, 2 triples and a home run. His 40 RBI are 12 more than his next-closest teammate.
Rumoro has thrown out 22 of 27 runners attempting to steal and he has picked off 11 runners, according to his coach.
"He's a kid who's really, really committed himself to being a better hitter," Ledbetter said. "His swing has become so much more balanced, he uses all fields and he's one of the best catch-and-throw guys I've ever had."
Other hitting leaders include Memphis-bound left fielder Evan Bell (.324, 10 2B, 29 R) and senior center fielder Chris Atwood (Wisconsin Oshkosh), a 6-3 speed demon who hits .379 with 8 doubles, 6 triples, 2 home runs and 27 RBI. The team's leadoff hitter, Atwood always has the green light to steal bases and has scored a team-best 43 runs.
Ledbetter said Thursday he had not decided on a starting pitcher, but he said it would either be Atwood, a left-hander, or junior right-hander Hank Christie. Atwood, 7-2 with a 2.04 ERA in 58⅓ innings, has struck out 52 and walked 19. Christie (7-1) owns a 2.09 ERA with 63 strikeouts and 18 walks in 67 innings.
Ledbetter said he appreciates the quality of the semifinal matchup against the defending state champs and relishes the overall quality of the teams in the Final Four.
"I think it's good for baseball," he said. "I haven't seen Jacobs, but I know Mt. Carmel and Providence and I hope people think the same about us - that we play the game the right way, we respect the game and we play hard. We try to tell our kids they're always a part of this program, but before they graduate they owe it to the next group of kids to keep the program at the level it's at. We try to make that important and the kids do a great job."