Wild 11-inning win ties Geneva for WSC lead

In a riveting three-game series that featured everything from collisions at the plate to dominating pitching to web gems to the Western Sun lead changing hands three straight days, Chris Hipchen ended it in story book fashion Friday - a walk-off home run.

Hipchen's blast, his 12th of the year, gave Geneva a 6-4 victory in 11 tension-filled innings and pulled the Vikings back into a tie for first in the Western Sun Conference.

Geneva (20-8, 13-5) opened the series with a 1-game lead, but a 4-3 DeKalb win on Wednesday deadlocked the race, then the Barbs (18-7, 13-5) grabbed a 1-game lead with their 5-3 victory Thursday.

Now the teams are even again heading into the final three games of the year; Geneva against Sycamore and DeKalb plays Kaneland, who also is very much alive for the championship with an 11-5 record after beating Sycamore 5-2 on Friday. The Knights can pull even by sweeping the Spartans Saturday.

"Our backs were against the wall," Geneva coach Matt Hahn said. "All three games could have gone either way. It was a great series, a fun series. Fun baseball."

Before Hipchen's homer, Geneva had managed just 2 hits in 9 innings against Jake Lemay, who had entered in the second inning after the Vikings plated three runs against DeKalb starter Blaine Parson in the first.

Alex Sroka opened the 11th inning with a single to right. Hipchen connected on a 2-0 fastball for a home run that sent a jubilant Geneva bench racing out of the dugout to greet Hipchen at home.

"I was sitting dead red for that (fastball)," Hipchen said. "He (Lemay) was hitting his spots all day. The only way we were going to be able to get on him is if he got behind and he got behind on me."

Hipchen had left the game in the seventh inning after injuring his right heel while trying to stretch and beat a throw to first base.

Hipchen missed one turn at-bat in the eighth inning but Hahn used the re-entry rule to get his junior slugger up in the 11th.

"He gave me a chance to go up there and I wasn't going to let it slip by," Hipchen said.

"I don't think we were discouraged (losing the first two games in the series) because we have played great baseball all year. We knew it was just a matter of time before our bats got going again. You have to keep your heads up and play through everything. I think we came out and played a great game."

Geneva jumped out to a 3-0 lead, getting a break to start the game when Jason Adams reached after striking out. A hit batter and walk loaded the bases, and basehits by Jack Delabar and Jim Martin brought in the three runs.

DeKalb coach Justin Keck turned to Lemay (3-3) after the first inning. Lemay was brilliant in relief, allowing only an infield single in his first 9 innings of work, striking out 14.

"We have a lot of confidence in Blaine," Keck said. "Hindsight being what it is we probably should have started (Lemay). We probably would have won in seven and it would have been over. You can always sit here and second guess. It is what it is and it's frustrating."

Geneva's only run off Lemay before Hipchen's homer came in the fifth without a hit. Brian Cornick walked, stole second and third and alertly scored on a close play at the plate when a pitch got just a few feet behind DeKalb's catcher.

Sroka started for Geneva and left with a 4-2 lead after a leadoff double in the sixth. Kyle Bender recorded an out, then allowed an RBI single and hit a batter to load the bases.

That's when Hahn brought in his ace Riley Perry, who had just pitched six innings in the loss Wednesday.

Shortstop Jason Adams made a nice play to keep a ball deep in the hole in the infield. The tying run scored on the play, making it 4-4 and starting a test of wills to see who could last longer, Perry or Lemay.

Perry slammed the door on DeKalb after the Barbs had one scoring chance after another early. DeKalb left the bases loaded in third, fifth and sixth innings, with Geneva working through the middle of the lineup in each case to escape.

"Bottom line is, you can't give away opportunities," Keck said. "Offensively we had our opportunities to end it well before the 11th inning and we didn't do that."

Against Perry, DeKalb didn't get a runner past first base. Perry fanned nine. He was throwing to sophomore John Swiderski, who Hahn brought up to catch his first varsity game after Eric Renner was injured in Thursday's loss. Among the other oddities was Perry taking his first at-bat of the season and striking out looking in the eighth inning, and junior Brett Willman filling in at third base when Hahn had to shuffle his lineup after Hipchen's injury.

"If this was the middle of the year maybe the decision is different," Hahn said of bringing up Swiderski. "This was as close as you can get to a must-win as possible."