Mt. Carmel gets the jump on Jacobs
The Jacobs baseball team fought back after falling behind early against Mt. Carmel in Friday's Class 4A semifinal in Joliet, but a 5-run deficit proved too much to overcome in a 5-2 defeat.
The Caravan avenged a 5-3 loss to the Golden Eagles on April 30 by getting to previously untouchable Jacobs starting pitcher Ryan Sargent, who in 2 previous playoff victories had not allowed a run on 6 hits in 13 innings.
Mt. Carmel touched Sargent (5-3) for 5 runs in the first 3 innings, including a second-inning solo home run by catcher Scott Kapers and a 2-run blast by freshman Alek Thomas that staked the 2013 state champions to a 5-0 lead in the top of the third.
"I was just struggling with my location, leaving some balls up," Sargent said. "A good-hitting team like that, they're going to capitalize on me making mistakes. I just didn't really have it today and they capitalized on it."
"We wouldn't be here without him," Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said of his Ohio-bound senior right-hander. "He's a winner. He's going to do a great job at the next level and any coach would be proud to have a guy like that on your team. We'll just keep our heads up and go after that game tomorrow."
Jacobs (29-11) will play for the third-place trophy and its first 30-win season against Oak Park-River Forest (30-8) today at 3 p.m. OP-RF dropped a 1-0 decision to defending state champion Providence in the second semifinal.
Mt. Carmel (36-4) didn't waste any time getting on the board in the top of the first. Consecutive one-out singles by Ako Thomas and Josh Stowers put runners at first and third, and Malik Carpenter followed with a single up the middle to draw first blood. They took a 2-0 lead on a groundball to second base by Alek Thomas.
Then the Caravan broke out the big bats. Kapers lined a 1-1 Sargent pitch over the wall in left center to make it a 3-0 game.
With a man on first in the third inning, Alek Thomas hammered a 2-1 delivery over the right-field fence to bulge Mt. Carmel's lead to 5. It was the eighth home run of the season for the left-handed hitting freshman, who said he wasn't nervous to be on the state's largest stage.
"You've got to act like you've been here before," he said after the game.
Mt. Carmel coach Brian Hurry and his players said it was important to get an early lead after falling behind against the Golden Eagles in their regular-season meeting.
"We played them earlier in the year and we didn't have the best game," Kapers said, "But we really came out today and wanted to put it to them. We really wanted to go at 'em."
"Yeah, we owed them one," Ako Thomas seconded.
Jacobs senior right-hander Ryan George, who defeated the Caravan in April, relieved Sargent in the fourth and pitched back-to-back scoreless innings. He walked 2 runners in the fourth but left them stranded by getting the Michigan-bound Ako Thomas to ground out to second base.
George gave the Golden Eagles a chance to get back in the game and they did just that in the bottom of the fifth against Mt. Carmel left-handed starting pitcher Mike Lorenzi (9-0).
Brenden Heiss opened the bottom of the fifth inning with a single and Matt Kozlak walked one out later. Jacobs third baseman Owen Oreskovich stepped to the plate and drilled a run-scoring single to center field to trim the deficit to 5-1. Catcher Daniel Tenayuca followed with a sharp single to right, scoring Kozlak to draw his team within 5-2.
Things got interesting after Stevie Krueger walked to load the bases. Junior pinch hitter Dan Salomon bounced a 2-hopper to second baseman Ako Thomas. He fielded the ball and lunged to tag Krueger, who stepped on the infield grass to avoid it. The second-base umpire initially ruled no tag and two runners came around to score on the play.
However, the umpires conferred at the request of Mt. Carmel coach Brian Hurry and reversed their decision, saying Krueger was out of the baseline.
"I know he was out of the baseline because I pushed him out," Thomas said.
"They got the call right," Hurry said. "Otherwise, it would have been a travesty."
Murray left the dugout to inquire about the reversal, but he didn't dispute the ruling.
"(The umpire) just told me he asked his partners if he was out of the baseline," he said. "I just wanted a clarification on the call. They got it right. That's baseball."
That was as close as Jacobs came. Undefeated pitcher Nelson Munoz (13-0) entered in the sixth and retired 6 of the 7 Golden Eagles he faced to end the game. The only exception was Kozlak, who doubled with one out in the seventh to cap a 3-for-3 performance.
Jacobs outhit the Caravan 7-6 and played errorless defense compared to 2 miscues by Mt. Carmel, but it wasn't enough.
"I'm proud of our guys the way we held it there at 5 and kind of cut it back," Murray said. "We gave it our best and left it all out on the field. Mt. Carmel is an unbelievable offense. I thought our guys competed and worked hard. They just got a good start and it was too much to catch up with their staff."