Mother Nature suspends Prairie Ridge, Jacobs

Winds roared up to 50 mph, yet the Prairie Ridge and Jacobs baseball teams played on.

Fielders couldn't hear each other speak through gale-force gusts, batters with dirt swirling in their eyes asked for multiple timeouts per at-bat and one particularly strong gust turned a small hole in the windscreen that cocoons the Jacobs backstop into a 20-foot tear.

Yet, Prairie Ridge and Jacobs played on until lightning flashed in the distance around 5:40 p.m., causing a delay from which the teams did not return.

The Fox Valley Conference crossover was called with Prairie Ridge leading 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning and Wolves on second and third with no outs.

The game will not be made up.

The windy conditions didn't affect Prairie Ridge junior Joe Zwierzynski, who was perfect through 3 innings with 3 strikeouts.

"I was happy with how Joe was throwing," Prairie Ridge coach David Haskins said. "I'm expecting a lot of innings out of him next year."

Said Jacobs coach Eric Sanders: "He's a big kid with decent velocity. He really went right after us and challenged our hitters."

Another junior, Logan Olson, helped Prairie Ridge open a comfortable lead immediately prior to the lightning that ended the game.

The Wolves loaded the bags on a basehit by Will Mack sandwiched between walks issued by starting pitcher Kyle Magnuson of Jacobs (11-10, 6-6).

That brought up the left-handed hitting Olson, who sliced a Magnuson pitch the opposite way just inside the left field line, scoring Pete Patras and Mack for a 4-0 lead.

Haskins held back his top starting pitchers and gave catcher David Mitroff a rare day off in the nonconference affair.

The Wolves (21-8, 12-0), who have already clinched the Fox Division title in the Fox Valley Conference, can finish undefeated with wins at Huntley today and at home against Grayslake Central on Friday and Johnsburg on Saturday. They also play a nonconference game against St. Viator on Thursday.

"I don't think anyone has ever run the table," Haskins said. "We're going to try."