Baseball: Jacobs avenges last year's disappointing losses to Huntley

Jacobs baseball team stewed and relived the bad memories of last year's Fox Valley Conference series against Huntley for 11 months.

One win against Huntley last season and the Golden Eagles would have at least shared the conference title. But the Red Raiders swept the series, coming from two runs down in the bottom of the seventh to win the first game.

With all that pent-up frustration, it was understandable why when second basemen Drew Bennett scooped up a ground ball and threw to first baseman Christian Graves for the final out Saturday, the Eagles celebrated like it was more than just a conference game in late April.

Right-hander Nathan Chapman struck out eight and allowed four hits over six innings before Gavin Peck nailed down a perfect seventh as Jacobs defeated Huntley, 5-1, in their FVC game, ending the Raiders' 11-game winning streak in front of a few hundred fans.

"We knew these guys are good, you have to respect that," Chapman said. "I believed in myself and have that mentality that I'm better and I deserve to be in this moment."

Chapman struck out six of the first 12 hitters he faced, but the Raiders (13-2, 6-1 FVC) scored a run in the second on two throwing errors.

Huntley sophomore Malachi Paplanus was tough, although Jacobs' Joey Fiorenza doubled in a run in the second after Caden Guenther beat out an infield grounder and stole second.

"It's a great win for our guys, that team is elite," said Jacobs coach Jamie Murray, whose team is 9-4, 4-2. "We needed to have that W to reinforce what we thought, that we're a good team. We got down, 1-0, then with Joey's big hit in the second inning and we were like, 'OK, we're good.'"

Fiorenza was intentionally walked to load the bases in the fourth, then doubled again in the sixth and scored on an errant throw.

"(That first double) felt euphoric," Fiorenza said. "It was absolutely incredible. Everybody coming together to get a collective W, it's what we do. That's Jacobs baseball.

"We have a great coaching staff and a great group of guys. They're working for me and I'm working for them at all times."

While Huntley did not get a hit until the fourth inning, it was able to run up Chapman's pitch count to 43 after two innings. The Eastern Illinois-bound senior rebounded to throw 35 total pitches over the next three innings and finished six innings with 101 pitches.

Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski accepted blame for the loss.

"It was a great atmosphere, two real good teams, two real good pitchers going and it came down to execution," Jakubowski said. "I got away from my ideals. We should have put bunts down and tried to hit-and-run. I cost up some runs.

"This one's on me, we should have done things a little bit different. We'll have two real good teams going at it again on Monday. We got punched in the mouth today. How do we respond?"

The score was 1-1 in the fourth when Jacobs scored a pair of unearned runs. Bennett's pop-up to the right side was caught in the 20-plus mph wind gusts and blown away from second baseman Ryan Quinlan, dropping for an infield hit.

"We gave them two extra outs that inning and extended the inning," Jakubowski said. "The wind kept pushing everything back. Quinlan called for it and it kept coming back to (first baseman) Chase (Jetel). Miscommunication."

The Eagles added another run in the fifth on Christian Graves' solo blast to left field, then tacked on in the sixth after Fiorenza's second double.

"That was a validation for guys. We lost a couple heartbreakers to them last year," Murray said. "Our guys have been waiting for a chance to get back in there."

Chapman pitched in a game last season that Jacobs led, 3-1, going into the seventh inning and wound up losing, 5-4, in eight innings. That fueled his determination on Saturday.

"When I had these guys, I wasn't going to let it slip," Chapman said. "I knew we'd have a reliever who would come in and do tremendous. I played with a lot of those guys in youth and travel ball. There was a lot of tension building up.

"A lot of people came to see me pitch today and I'm very grateful for that. You have to believe in yourself. You have to see it in the future, and I saw that I was going to win."

Fiorenza expects more of the same in Monday's rematch.

"It feels great (to give Huntley an FVC loss), man," Fiorenza said. "I got some boys on Huntley as well, I know they're going to be fiending for us as well and we're going to come back and hit them hard."