Baseball: Slick work from 'Bick' lifts Wauconda

A Bo and "Bick" backfield?"

Well, no, Alabama football head coach Nick Saban, whose program boasts star running back Bo Scarbrough, isn't recruiting Jacob Bicknase. But the 5-foot-8 Wauconda senior says he's considering attending the University of Alabama, where he would be a student only.

"Me and Bo Scarbrough," joked Bicknase, an all-area running back last fall.

While Bicknase may not be a Division-I athlete, no one questions his competitiveness. He put it on display again Tuesday, pitching a 5-hitter to lead Wauconda's baseball team to a 2-1 win over host Grant.

The right-hander, a three-year varsity player, shut out Grayslake North exactly two weeks earlier.

"You knew he was going to go out there and compete," Grant coach Dave Behm said. "He did that. He pitched well."

The loss was costly for Grant (14-10), which dropped into a first-place tie with Grayslake North in the Northern Lake County Conference. While both teams are 9-4 in the NLCC, Grayslake North owns the tiebreaker since the Knights beat the Bulldogs 2 out of 3 games.

Wauconda (10-11, 6-6), which hosts Grant on Wednesday, has won 10 of its last 15 games.

"We feel we have some life left in us," Wauconda coach Bill Sliker said. "We know we got to string some wins together to make it interesting for us. (The players) like to come out and play baseball."

Take Bicknase.

He worked effectively and quickly, as the visitors needed just 90 minutes to complete their win. Jake Harmon had the big hit for Wauconda, singling up the middle with one out in the sixth to score Brock Glavey with the go-ahead run. Grant center fielder Nolan Unger threw out courtesy runner Keegan Henley at the plate on the same play, but Bicknase didn't need the insurance run.

After pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, he faced just four batters in the seventh. Zach Biegel (2-for-3) reached on an infield single with one out, but Bicknase got his third strikeout and then a flyball to end it.

"We got to take our hat off to our pitcher, Bicknase," Sliker said. "He was throwing strikes, keeping the ball down, hitting spots. He didn't waste many pitches."

Bicknase didn't walk a batter. He and catcher Tyler Husko had a game plan and executed it.

"I actually didn't throw my curveball until about the third inning," Bicknase said. "I was just getting guys on the fastball. Husko was calling the pitches and he wanted to work a couple of times through the batting order before showing them the curveball so they didn't jump on it right away. That really helped."

"He likes to throw strikes and get after hitters, and attack," Husko said. "That's what we did. We wanted to get ahead early, keep the pitch count down and then keep our options open later in the game. We know he's going to go deep every time because he keeps the ball in the strike zone."

Bicknase's only mistake came with two out in the first, as Ricky Allen deposited a pitch over the fence in left field, rattling the underside of Grant's football stadium bleachers.

"I left my changeup high and he got a real good piece of it," Bicknase said. "A little mistake. But I battled back throughout the game, so that was good. I try to keep a positive attitude and not let it get to me."

Bicknase showed off his athleticism on Allen's sky-high popup in the sixth. Bicknase called for the ball and grabbed it behind the mound, leaping and falling backward.

"I was waiting for someone to call me off," Bicknase. "(The ball) went up and sloped back down. I saw it at the last second, and luckily I caught it."

Grant junior lefty Nick Malmberg also pitched well, going 6⅔ innings and allowing just 6 hits, including a pair to John Herbst and double to Spencer Bills, who scored on Glavey's groundout in the third.

Malmberg also didn't walk a batter, and he struck out six.

"He's progressed as the year's gone on," Behm said. "Every start has been better, and today was his best. It was never an issue of stuff. It's just been adjusting to the varsity, consistency and the mind set it takes."