Baseball: Crystal Lake South routs Jacobs

The Crystal Lake South baseball players think Wednesday's 14-run outburst can get the defending Class 4A state champs rolling after a mixed start.

Jacobs would like to think it was an aberration.

CL South evened the Fox Valley Conference series at a game apiece with a 14-0, six-inning victory in Algonquin. Jacobs won the first game 7-6 on Tuesday.

Left-hander Josh Freeze (1-2) shut out the Golden Eagles on 6 hits, and the Gators broke open a 4-0 game with a 5-run fifth inning and a 5-run sixth. They improved to 6-8-1 overall, 3-5 in FVC action.

"This game can definitely help things along," said CL South junior Kyle Hetherington, whose fifth-inning grand slam made it 9-0. "I feel like it will get a lot of guys energized. I think we have a lot of good things to come from this game."

Hetherington said his teammates laid off the high pitches they chased in Game 1, and right-handed batters tried to hit outside pitches to right field against Jacobs left-hander Justin Lavrisa (1-1).

The approach helped the Gators solve Lavrisa, who in his last start mystified Huntley with 9 strikeouts in 5⅔ scoreless innings. CL South touched him for 5 earned runs via 6 hits and 2 walks. Lavrisa struck out 4 in 4⅓ innings.

"They played well and swung the bats well," Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said of the Gators. "Justin competed and battled. In certain counts their hitters made adjustments. They got that early lead and their guy really kept us off-balance. We never found any rhythm. What's great about baseball is we'll bounce back for the rubber game and try to win the series."

Freeze changed speeds to keep Jacobs (8-5-1, 6-2) from stringing hits together. He notched 2 strikeouts and did not issue a walk in an 83-pitch performance.

"I was really trying to work in my off-speed a lot more, changing levels," the 6-foot-4, 170-pound lefty said. "I got a lot more information from (Tuesday's) game and my catcher (Harrison Hinz) was helping me with location. It worked out for the best."

CL South collected 13 hits. Cleanup hitter Blake Kuffel went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI and scored 3 runs, state finals hero Noah Tyrrell (Wisconsin-Parkside) doubled for one of 2 hits and leadoff man Scott Skwarek went 2-for-4 and scored twice.

Liam Oreskovich enjoyed the only multihit game for Jacobs, which used four pitchers.

The teams meet for the decisive game of the series in Crystal Lake on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.