Baseball: Hampshire takes early lead again vs. Huntley, finishes strong this time
Future Bradley University baseball teammates Ari Fivelson, T.J. Jakubowski and Calen Scheider might laugh about it someday soon in a college dorm, or on a ball field. Or at least the three Division-I-bound ballplayers might settle for a friendly disagreement about what happened in the bottom of the first inning of Hampshire’s 8-3 win over Huntley on Monday.
Jakubowski and his Huntley baseball teammates trailed the Fox Valley Conference game 3-1 when Dylan Visvadra smoked a Scheider pitch to center field. Fivelson hustled back and made an over-the-shoulder catch, while Jakubowski, who was on second base thanks to a double, tagged up and raced to third base.
The umpire, however, ruled Jakubowski left the base before Fivelson made the catch. Fivelson threw the ball in, and the Whip-Purs easily doubled up Jakubowski, who will room with Scheider at Bradley, for an inning-ending double play.
Hampshire (17-6, 4-6) never trailed after jumping on top 3-0 thanks to Wilson Wemhoff’s three-run homer in the top of the inning.
“He read it the right way,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said of T.J., his son. “The umpire just said he left a little too early. It was borderline. If a [fielder] is going to take off, turn his back and go run down the baseball, you need to make sure that he’s not going to throw you out at third.”
The speedy Fivelson had to battle a wind that was whipping at more than 20 mph for most of the game. The wind kept pushing the ball deep toward right-center field.
“For me, it was tailing because (Visvadra) is a righty [hitter],” Fivelson said. “[The ball] went over my left shoulder and I was able to angle myself and get the ball in quickly.”
A.J. Putty’s RBI groundout, just before Visvadra’s at-bat, had pulled Huntley (11-7, 5-4) within 3-1. Putty’s wind-blown, two-out, two-run double in the third cut Hampshire’s lead to 7-3, and when Visvadra followed with a single through the hole, Whip-Purs pitching coach Carter Lawler paid a mound visit.
“He was just like, ‘You’re fine. You’re better,’ ” Scheider said. “He just came out there and instilled confidence in me, and that’s what I needed.”
Scheider got Alex Behles to bounce out to second baseman Cole Harkin on the next pitch and then got into a groove. Scheider retired eight batters in a row, before Visvadra (2 for 3) singled with one out in the sixth.
Scheider walked two in the bottom of the seventh but finished off his complete-game effort by getting Jakubowski to line out to third baseman Jack Perrone.
“Calen did a real nice job of keeping us off-balance,” Andy Jakubowski said. “I thought our approaches against him were good. I thought we squared up some baseballs well against him. We put the ball in play. They were just a better team today.”
Fivelson (2 for 4) and Scheider (3 for 5) led off the game with singles, before Wemhoff, Hampshire’s No. 3 hitter, drilled a Mason Leske pitch to right field. The ball sailed over the fence.
“Off the bat, it was a line drive and starting to rise, and it just kept going,” Whips head coach Frank Simoncelli said. “It was a great approach by him. Going opposite way, that’s where his bread and butter is.”
When Huntley visited Hampshire on Thursday, the Whip-Purs also took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but lost 5-3.
“We talked about that in the huddle [after the top of the first Monday],” Simoncelli said. “We were like, ‘Listen. Yeah, we scored three runs. That’s great. But let’s keep going. Don’t be satisfied.’ ”
The Whips listened. Wemhoff, who walked three times, scored on a wild pitch in the second. Shane Pfeiffer’s RBI double and Scheider’s run-scoring single highlighted a three-run third, knocking out Leske. Fivelson singled home Perrone (2 for 3, double) in the seventh.
Scheider allowed four hits, struck out five and walked five.
“Today, I was just trying to pitch to contact and see how long I could get through this game and save our bullpen for the rest of the week,” Scheider said. “I was just throwing strikes.”