Victory helps make Grayslake Central's Murphy feel better

When Matt Murphy woke up Saturday morning, he says his sinuses were bothering him.

When Grayslake Central's ace walked off the pitching mound around the noon hour, he wasn't feeling much better.

As he crossed the third-base foul line after being lifted with none out in the Jacobs fifth, following an RBI double by the Golden Eagles' Ben Albano, the hard-throwing Murphy flung his fielding glove into the dugout.

That's the competitor side of Murphy.

Despite his head cold, the Southern Illinois recruit toughed it out and got the win. His teammates endured, too, as Grayslake Central overcame 5 errors to outslug Jacobs 15-9 in a Fox Valley Conference game that lasted nearly three hours, featured a combined 30 hits and saw eight players pitch.

"It was a scrappy win," Murphy said. "But we'll take it."

It was a victory Grayslake Central (11-3, 5-1) badly wanted after an 8-7 loss at Jacobs on Friday and a 9-0 defeat at the hands of Warren on Tuesday.

"We really got shut down earlier this week, and we didn't swing the bats particularly well (Friday) in the loss, so it was important to get back on the winning track," Rams coach Troy Whalen said. "You got to protect the home field. Jacobs kept coming back at us."

Jacobs (5-8, 2-6) found itself down 4-1 after one inning thanks, in part, to a dropped infield throw, a catchable flyball off an outfielder's glove and a windblown hit behind the first-base bag. Even though his team pulled even in the third on RBI singles by Matt Schmidt and Albano and Brett Kale's run-scoring double, Golden Eagles coach Eric Sanders considered his opponent's first inning pivotal.

Jacobs later cut a 10-4 deficit to 10-9, before Grayslake Central put the game away with a 5-run sixth.

"The positive was how the guys kept coming back offensively, but the tone was set in the first inning when we made (2) errors," Sanders said. "That's tough on your pitcher when he has to throw 30 pitches in the first inning coming off the bus."

Schmidt, a senior left-hander, started and pitched 31/3 innings, departing the mound after a pinch-hit single by the Rams' Joey Bleuer. Like the opponent's starting pitcher, Schmidt battled. He didn't point fingers after the Golden Eagles' rough start defensively.

"It's happened a couple of times already, so it's just something that we got to get through," Schmidt said. "That first (inning) is key. We had some breakdowns, but we tried to bounce back the best we could in the later innings and prove that we can play with the best teams in the conference."

Murphy allowed 8 hits and 6 earned runs in his 4-plus innings, striking out four and walking one.

"I didn't have my velocity," Murphy said. "It was kind of cold, but they put some nice swings on the ball and they hit it. They made our fielders field it."

Leadoff batter Andrew Hosford (3-for-5) and Joe Schaiper (3-for-4, pair of RBI singles) paced Grayslake Central's 17-hit attack. Angelo Gargano was 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Josh DeAngelis lined a 2-run double in the sixth. Kevin DeRue had a single and 2 RBI, and Mike Gentile contributed a double and an RBI.

For Jacobs, Schmidt and Albano were both 4-for-4 and scored a combined 7 runs. Kale finished 2-for-2 with 3 RBI. Albano also knocked in three.

"We just did our jobs as hitters to get ourselves in this game," Schmidt said. "We got down early, but we never give up."