Ames, Jacobs hand Schaumburg its first loss
It wasn't a textbook outing for Jacobs senior pitcher Ricky Ames, but he was able to close the book on Schaumburg with a complete-game, 4-1 victory in nonconference baseball action in Algonquin on Friday.
Ames (1-1), the first left-handed pitcher previously undefeated Schaumburg (4-1) has faced this season, walked a total of 9 Saxons. Otherwise, he allowed only 3 hits and got the big outs in key situations to strand 11 runners, including 6 in scoring postion.
"There are times we wonder if he's doing it on purpose," Jacobs coach Eric Sanders said of Ames' bases on balls. "The comment was made in the dugout that he likes pitching with men on base."
Well, Ames is comfortable in such positions anyway.
"I'm used to having people on base because I throw from the stretch," he said. "I don't use a windup. Basically, I couldn't find the location with how cold it was, but I buckled down when I needed to."
Schaumburg took a 1-0 lead in the first inning without a hit. Ames walked Saxons leadoff hitter Dave Compitello, who advanced to third on a ground ball and a wild pitch before he scored on a hard-hit sacrifice fly to left field by senior Matt Mistrata.
Jacobs (4-5) countered with 3 runs on 5 hits in the second inning against Schaumburg junior right-hander Andy Keehn (0-1). Josh Kranz led off with a single and took second on an error in left field. Senior Matt Miguel followed with a windblown popup that fell for a hit, and junior catcher Greg Leasure dumped a blooper into right field that tied the game.
"Ducksnorts are going to happen," Keehn said. "It's part of the game. I just had to pitch through it."
Keehn nearly did just that, but Jacobs picked up on a trend and took advantage to score twice more in the inning with two away. No. 9 hitter Kevin Olson stepped to the plate and laced Keehn's first pitch for a run-scoring double to the gap in left center to score Leasure all the way from first base for a 2-1 lead.
"Coach just told me to look for a fastball down the middle because that's what he'd thrown to the past eight batters," Olson said. "He just told me to wait back on it and drive it in the gap, so I owe it all to him." Senior Cameron O'Brien subsequently singled to center field to score Olson for a 3-1 lead.
Ames got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning by inducing a sharp one-hopper back to the mound off the bat of Joe Infusino. Ames loaded them again in the fifth, when he walked the first two hitters and gave up a single to Matt Mistrata. However, the curveballer escaped by inducing 2 popups before Anthony Ianotti lined out to shortstop to end the inning.
"We had all kinds of chances to hit the ball and we didn't do the job," Schaumburg coach Paul Groot said. "We left too many runners on. We had opportunities to score and we didn't take advantage of it."
Jacobs senior Johnny Amann doubled twice and scored in the fifth inning on a single by junior Matt Schmidt and an error on the Schaumburg cut-off man, who threw wildly to second base.
Schaumburg will host St. Charles East today. Jacobs will host Fremd.