Jacobs rallies for 7-4 win against Larkin

The Jacobs baseball coaching staff challenged the team to make a course correction midway through a nonconference game at Larkin on Tuesday, and the Golden Eagles responded with a pair of two-out rallies to notch a 7-4 comeback victory.

Larkin pitcher Jon Meidel, making his first start of the season, retired the first 6 hitters he faced and was spotted a 3-0 lead, thanks to a 2-run double in the first inning by Scott Harm and Justin Kalusa's RBI single in the second.

The challenge was issued before Jacobs stepped to the plate in the third inning.

"(Meidel's) body language was all confidence and he looked like he was in complete control," Jacobs coach Eric Sanders said. "We said, 'He's out there with confidence. The question is are you going to let him keep it?' It sparked them and challenged them a little bit and they really responded."

With two outs in the third inning, No. 9 hitter Kevin Olson ignited a rally with a single and Cam O'Brien followed with another. Junior Josh Kranz then lined a single off the Larkin shortstop's glove to score Olson. After Johnny Amann was hit by a pitch to load the bases, cleanup hitter Matt Schmidt doubled home a pair to tie the game 3-3.

The Golden Eagles took the lead for keeps with 4 runs in the fourth. A double steal by Patton Hofer and Mike Rung drew an errant throw, scoring Hofer. The Eagles then loaded the bases with a walk by O'Brien and a single by Kranz, which set the stage for senior Amann's 3-run double to the base of the left-field wall into the teeth of a 15 mph wind.

"Down 10-0 I'd still have faith we could come back," said Amann, who doubled twice. "With all the guys behind me, one through nine in the order, I'm always very confident with who's up there."

The rally gave Jacobs starter Nick Panvino (2-0) breathing room, and he held the Royals to 1 run on 3 hits through the final 3 innings to earn the complete-game victory. "After Johnny came up and hit that double, it was just awesome," Panvino said. "I felt more confident."

The comeback by Jacobs (6-5) resulted in its third straight victory and left Larkin (4-6) to ponder another loss in which the Royals started strong but couldn't hold on for the win.

"That's been the story of our year," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "We've had a bunch of nice starts. We've just got to put everything together. We hit decent today, then we had a couple of fielding blotches and they took advantage of it. You have to give them credit; they're a pretty good ballclub."