Baseball: Balkcom, Jacobs blank Cary-Grove
Jacobs sophomore pitcher Andrew Balkcom utilized a simple game plan.
Balkcom's plan was to throw strikes and let his defense make plays.
His tactics worked.
Balkcom, who threw 77 pitches in 6 innings, struck out 4 and walked 2 and tossed a 4-hit shutout in pitching Jacobs to a 2-0 victory over Cary-Grove in Fox Valley Conference baseball action in Algonquin.
Matt Camp, with 2 strikeouts, allowed 1 hit in the seventh to earn the save for the Golden Eagles (11-5-1, 8-2).
"Andrew was outstanding," said Jacobs coach Jamie Murray. "Andrew is a workhorse and pitched with a lot of poise. His sinker was fantastic and he calmly worked out of some tough jams. I thought about keeping Andrew in with 77 pitches. But Matt's role is as closer. Matt gave up the single to lead off the inning but then settled down and got two strikeouts on called strikes. Our pitching from Andrew and Matt today was outstanding."
Balkcom was happy with his performance.
"My two and four-seam fastballs were really working," said Balkcom. "I just wanted to pitch to contact and trust my defense. My defense was great all day."
Jacobs, which left 9 runners on base in 6 innings, scored both its runs in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Liam Oreskovich and Camp drove in a run by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The Golden Eagles managed 5 hits in the game including a 3-for-3 effort from Braedon Wegner.
"We played with a lot of energy and we had good situational hitting in the third inning," said Murray. "With their hard throwers in the bullpen we wanted to score first. We played hard for 21 outs and this was a great team and program win. All 21 players contributed in some way.'
Cary-Grove which stranded 9 runners, wasted outstanding pitching performances by Robert Deischer and Ben Taczy.
Deischer, who was hit in the leg by 2 batted balls, struck out 7 and walked 2 in 4 innings of work. The Trojan (12-6, 8-6) senior, who absorbed the loss, gave up 2 runs on 5 hits.
"Robert is a tough, tough kid," said Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland. "He hung in there and pitched well enough to win."
Taczy pitched 2 innings and blanked the Eagles without allowing a hit.
Out of the 6 strikeouts the Trojans compiled in the game, 5 were looking.
"We weren't aggressive at the plate and I thought we took way too many pitches," said Sutherland. "We got called out twice on strikes in the seventh inning with the game on the line. We got behind in counts and I didn't like our mental approach at the plate."