CARPENTERSVILLE -- Jacobs needed only two pitchers to complete a two-game sweep of Fox Valley Conference Valley Division rival Dundee-Crown on Friday.
Play resumed from Wednesday's weather-related suspension with one out in the fifth and Jacobs up 6-0. It remained that way as Mike Castillo finished what he started only two days prior in a seven-strikeout complete-game performance, moving his record to 4-0.
Junior Ricky Ames followed that up by pitching another complete game in a 5-4 Golden Eagles win. Jacobs sits in first place in league play with a crucial doubleheader against Cary-Grove looming today.
"We're right in there," said Jacobs assistant coach John Sarna. "To me, its anybody's division. For us to win these two games tells me that we want it. It's gonna be a big next week and I'm looking forward to it."
In a much more competitive Game 2, it was only a matter of when the Chargers' mistakes were going to come back to haunt them. D-C (11-9, 4-5) committed four errors and had three baserunning blunders in consecutive innings, but the biggest blow came in the top of the sixth.
With two outs and the game tied at 4, Jacobs' Johnny Amann broke for second base and no one was there to cover the base on the throw, allowing Amann to reach third. The junior later scored what proved to be the winning run on a hit and error by the Chargers third baseman, making it 5-4.
"I would say that on a scale of 1 to 10 our focus was about a 2, and of course when that's your level of focus you're going to lose ballgames," said D-C coach Fred Bencriscutto.
"You lose a ballgame 5-4 and you reconstruct the inning when they score the winning run and it's an absolute mental nightmare. We throw a ball to second and no one's covering the base and then the ball that's hit to third, we had a tag play that we didn't take and again that's just a lack of focus. And until that changes, we're in trouble."
Down 4-3, the Chargers had the chance to at least tie or take the lead in the bottom of the third. After a leadoff triple by Eric Barber and a walk to Logan Kissack, D-C had runners at first and third with no outs. However, Kissack was picked off first by Ames and then after another walk, Jacobs (11-7, 6-3) got out of the inning unscathed on a 6-4-3 double play. Ames, a left-hander, also had another pickoff in the bottom of the fifth.
"The first baseman, catcher and I were all talking about it and wanted to keep him close," Ames said. "So I just altered a little bit and that was it."
Ames recorded the complete game, despite walking five batters and having no strikeouts. His defense made sure he got the win by making some highlight-reel grabs during the final two innings.
"They really got into the ballgame and they knew doing the little things is what it was gonna take to win," Sarna said. "They stayed positive and motivated."
Kissack (1-1) pitched 5 2/3 innings for D-C and allowed only three earned runs in the loss.
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