Baseball: Hampshire rallies by Jacobs

Hampshire pitcher Carlos Puente hit some rough waters right of the gate on Friday when he walked the first batter of the game and then surrendered a 2-run homer to the second batter he faced.

However, it was smooth sailing after that for senior southpaw as he recovered to not allow another run through 6 innings. That gave his teammates a chance to rally for a 4-2 win over visiting Jacobs in Fox Valley Conference action.

"I have to admit I was pretty rattled after the home run," Puente said. "But I knew I just had to get focused and put it behind me. I adjusted and just kept mixing up my pitches. It was a big win for us to finally be able to beat Jacobs."

After the first inning homer Puente only allowed 3 more hits while walking 4 and striking out 7 batters.

"He did a great job of just battling back," Hampshire coach Frank Simoncelli said. "He was able to keep them off balance by working the change-up. Our catcher Matt Lyons called a good game and we had some great defensive play behind him."

After being blanked through the first 3 innings by Jacobs hurler Daniel Murray the Whip Purs' bats came alive in the fourth inning.

Mathew Jachec, Trevor Laffin, and Zachary Golden strung together 3 consecutive opposite field doubles to tie the score 2-2.

"We made the adjustment to get up on the plate," Simoncelli said. "They were working the outside corner on us, so we started taking the ball the other way. It was just a matter of waiting back and trusting our hands."

The Whip Purs (10-13, 3-9) took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Golden reached on a single with 2 outs. He stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Nicholas Tenny followed with a 2-out clutch single to put Hampshire ahead 3-2.

"It was a chance to come up clutch for my teammates," Tenny said. "Down 0-2 in the count I was just looking for something in the zone to get a barrel on it. We were able to make the adjustment the second and third time through the order to lay off some of the stuff out of the zone. It was a big win for us and one we really needed."

Logan Nespor pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Whip Purs to pick up the save.

Spencer Foulks had the 2-run homer for Jacobs. The Golden Eagles fell to 12-6-1, 9-3.

"We got off to the great start, but that's why you have to play 21 outs," Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said. "Credit their pitcher for minimizing the damage and keeping us off balance."