When Huntley’s (20-8) varsity baseball team lost to Jacobs (20-15) on Thursday afternoon, the last thing head coach Andy Jakubowski wanted his team to do was act out of character.
“I do everything with dignity and class,” said Jakubowski. “It’s a tough one, but it is what it is.”
Huntley started the game off to a quick pace against Jacobs as junior Colin Lyman hit a leadoff double against Golden Eagles pitcher Greg Mixon. Lyman soon scored on junior Tyler Albright’s RBI infield single, which was the first of Huntley’s three runs scored in the inning.
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“We did a nice job executing,” said Jakubowski. “Getting the three runs up in the first [inning] was huge.”
However, the Golden Eagles started to chip back at the lead. After leading off the bottom of the first inning with a home run and knocking in another on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the second, it was a one-run game for Jacobs.
Jacobs came back to tie up the game and take the lead in the bottom of the third inning by scoring six runs. The two-out rally began with a missed high fly ball in center field which was followed by an error in center, part of which could have been due to strong winds toward straightaway right field, which reached 40 miles per hour.
“I should’ve taken charge as the center fielder,” said Lyman, who manned center field for the game, “but the wind definitely played a factor.”
The Golden Eagles used to their advantage three of Huntley’s five errors in the game, which proved to be costly.
“We were trying to be a really good pitching and defense team, but we hurt ourselves defensively,” said Jakubowski. “They did a real nice job capitalizing on it.”
Nevertheless, the Red Raiders came back with intensity. In the fifth inning, Huntley had runners on second and third with no outs. However, the Red Raiders only came away with one run after Nixon struck out a pair of runners before allowing a sharp single to left by third baseman Bryce Only.
“In the fifth we had a few opportunities, but [Mixon] kind of knotted up,” said Jakubowski. “He did a real nice job settling in.”
Jacobs looks to clinch its first-ever regional championship in its next game against Crystal Lake South on Saturday.
