Huntley edges Jacobs
Justin Gundlach had no idea he would be asked to pitch in relief.
Gundlach, who was a starter all season for Huntley, was summoned by Red Raiders coach Andy Jakubowski to pitch in relief when starter Jake Staab got in trouble in the fifth inning Thursday.
Jakubowski knew what he was doing.
In 2⅔ innings, Gundlach (7-3) blanked the Golden Eagles without allowing a hit. Gundlach’s relief effort helped the Red Raiders post a 5-4 win over Jacobs in semifinal round action of the Class 4A Huntley regional Thursday afternoon.
Huntley (23-10) advances to Saturday’s championship game at 11 a.m. to play the winner of today’s game between Dundee-Crown and DeKalb.
“I was surprised when coach wanted to me to warm up to come in the game and pitch in relief,” said Gundlach. “I haven’t pitched in relief all season. I just wanted to come in and throw strikes. I had faith that I would have good stuff.”
Jakubowski appreciated Gundlach’s effort.
“Justin came in and stopped the bleeding,” said Jakubowski. “He was outstanding and kept the hitters off balance.”
Huntley struck first with 2 runs in the second courtesy of RBI singles by Tyler Mindak and Carlos Alvarez.
Jacobs (13-19) seized control of the game with 4 runs off Staab in the fifth. Kenny Finn contributed a 2-run single and Connor Conzelman drove in 2 runs with a double as the Golden Eagles held a 2-run advantage after 4 ½ innings.
Huntley won the game with 3 runs in the sixth off losing pitcher Henry Giegeous. Two of those runs were unearned. The Red Raiders scored the decisive run on am RBI single by Collin Lyman.
Jacobs aided Huntley with 5 errors.
“We beat ourselves,” said Jacobs coach Erik Kehoe. “We made way too many mental mistakes and errors and we should be playing Saturday for the regional championship. We had the 4-run inning, but we should have scored more. We were our own worst enemy.”
Lyman and Carlos Alvarez paced the Huntley offensive attack with 3 hits apiece while Brody Burkhart added 2 hits.
“We left a ton of baserunners on base,” said Jakubowski. “We left a lot of runners in scoring position. We did get some timely hits.”