Geneva's Perry, Hipchen enjoy record-setting day

While Riley Perry doesn't know what all he'll do on his Saturday, there's one thing he knows he won't do - even though it's something he has now done better than any pitcher in Geneva history.

That's throw a baseball.

Perry threw the final 5 2/3 innings of Geneva's biggest game of the year - on one day's rest - tossing goose eggs at the Barbs just long enough for Chris Hipchen to also put his name in the Geneva record books.

Hipchen's 2-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning Friday gave the Vikings a thrilling 6-4 win over DeKalb.

It also gave Perry the 19th career win, most in school history, one more than Steve Gilletly who went 18-14 from 2002-2005.

"I never thought I'd get it when I started high school," Perry said of the record. "Eighteen is a lot of games to win. Just feels good to get it. I wasn't expecting it."

Perry also wasn't expecting to pitch quite so long Friday even though he and coach Matt Hahn have a running joke when Perry asks to pitch in the third game of a series.

"I thought I could go one, two innings today but I felt good," said Perry, who added that sometimes during summer baseball he'll pitch up to four innings Sunday after also throwing Friday.

"Coming back into the game it always took me a little longer to warm up, a few more pitches," Perry said. "Tomorrow my arm is going to be sore for sure. I'll be icing it a lot, heat, stretching."

Perry improved to 8-1 this year and 19-4 in his career. It also was his first win over DeKalb. He allowed 2 walks, 1 hit and 0 runs while striking out nine.

Hahn said it was hard for him to know how long to leave Perry in.

"Every inning I was like, 'This has got to be it. I'm going to ruin the kid,'" Hahn said. "He was still throwing hard, still had sharp break on his curve ball. What a gutsy performance."

That wasn't the only Geneva record that fell. Hipchen's homer gave Geneva 38 this year, breaking the 37 they smashed in 2008.

It also was the 12th homer for Hipchen, tying him with Nick Herrera (2004, 2006) and Cory Hofstetter (2008) for the most in a season.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on my mind but I just try to go play my game," said Hipchen, who added he hopes the heel injury that forced him out of Friday's game won't sideline him long. "You can't worry about records. Just got to do what I can to help the team."

No doubt, walk-off home runs to tie your team for the conference lead on a memorable day at Geneva is doing just that.