Defensive gem sparks Jacobs’ offense

Heading into the bottom of the seventh tied instead of trailing gave the Jacobs baseball team all the confidence it needed Saturday afternoon to pull out a Fox Valley Conference crossover victory.

Greg Sidor threw out the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the top of the seventh. Then Kenny Finn hit a game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to give the Golden Eagles a 5-4 win over Hampshire in Algonquin.

“I felt like I had something to prove,” Finn said of the final at-bat. “I really didn’t have good at-bats the first three times I went up to the plate. I thought I really had to come through for the team.”

The Whip-Purs (7-5-1, 1-2) trailed 4-3 heading into the seventh on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt, which turned into a bunt single, from Luke Wians. Two batters later with runners on second and third, Michael Lamarie hit a flyball to right field, which was caught by Sidor. With Piotr Barnas tagging from third, Sidor threw home to catcher Aaron Meciej, who tagged out Barnas.

“Sidor made a great throw from right field,” said Whip-Purs coach John Sarna, who was an assistant at Jacobs for many seasons before heading to Hampshire this season. “That was a heck of a play.”

Jon Berndt walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh. He was sacrificed to second. Mark Self then blooped a single to left field to put runners on first and third. Sidor was intentionally walked to load the bases. Finn, the No. 3 hitter, hit a line drive to center and the throw home was off line as Berndt scored the winning run.

“That (half) inning was working together, staying together and keeping our composure and not letting a mistake get the best of us,” Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said of the bottom of the seventh.

Hampshire took a 2-0 lead in the third on a two-run single. Jacobs (8-6, 3-1) scored four runs in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. Self had an infield RBI single and Zac Camacho, who also got the win in relief, added a three-run double.

Wians, who went 2-for-4, drove in Jacob Kuhn in the fifth to cut the Whip-Purs deficit to 4-3.

Kuhn suffered the loss in relief of Brandon Wescher. Kuhn went 2 innings, giving up just 2 hits and 1 run.

Camacho, in relief of Nick Ledinsky, threw 3 innings, giving up 4 hits and an unearned run. He struck out four, did not walk a batter, but did hit one.