Baseball: McHenry rallies past Jacobs

Bennet Baumann went 4-for-4 with a double and three RBI singles Monday to help lead McHenry to an 8-3 win over visiting Jacobs in a Fox Valley Conference showdown.

Garet Lobbins was 3-for-4 and, like Baumann, had a double as FVC leader McHenry (13-2-1, 6-0) limited Jacobs (11-3, 4-2) to only two hits. The cleanup-hitting Baumann led a 10-hit attack.

“I was just hunting fastballs, as we all tend to do, and they gave it to me four times,” said Baumann. “I made them pay for it.”

McHenry won despite ace Kaden Wasniewski exiting the mound after three innings because of a blister on his pitching hand, coach Brian Rockweiler said, adding that the arm of the LSU commit is fine.

Wasniewski endured a long third inning, as the Golden Eagles sent eight batters to the plate and scored three runs thanks to RBI from a Jace Koth single, an Andrew Deegan walk and a Ryan Tucker ground out.

Wasniewski threw 54 pitches, striking out three, walking three, hitting a batter and allowing two singles. He and Nathan Neidhardt, who started the game in left field, switched positions.

Neidhardt threw four perfect innings, striking out four.

Wasniewski will typically go the distance on the mound. Entering the game earlier than usual proved not to be a detriment to Neidhardt, who has pitched mainly in short relief.

“It’s not really tough,” Neidhardt said. “I just look forward to going in to pitch, back up my team and do what I can to help out the group.”

Neidhardt earned the win, as Landon Clements hit a solo homer to center field, his second of the season, with one out in the fourth to snap a 3-all tie.

Jacobs’ Brock Vincent flied out deep to right in the fifth, but otherwise the Eagles hit few balls hard against the lefty Neidhardt.

“Give credit to McHenry,” said Jacobs coach Jamie Murray. “They were better than us. They got down, they battled back, took the lead, held on to it and added on — all things that we’re capable of doing. Unfortunately, it was not our best from the third inning on.”

Baumann’s two-out single in the first scored Clements and opened the scoring. Baumann singled home Carver Cohn in a two-run third, doubled and scored in the fifth, and pulled a single into left field in the seventh to score Wasniewski.

Jacobs took a 3-1 lead in the third and had an opportunity to hand McHenry its first FVC loss, especially with Wasniewski out of the game. Eagles starter Cooper Gulgren pitched four-plus innings, leaving the game with his team trailing 4-3.