Huntley rallies into regional final

Updated: May 26, 2011 8:00PM

Having finished fourth in Class 4A last year, Huntley has had its fair share of tight situations. On Thursday, the Red Raiders showed their playoff savvy and toughness when they scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning against one of the more dominant pitchers in the state to defeat Jacobs 5-4 in a Class 4A Huntley Regional semifinal game.

“We’ve had a lot of situations like that, so we’re pretty comfortable being down,” said sophomore centerfielder Colin Lyman, who delivered the game-winning hit in the sixth. “We’ve come back before.”

Trailing 4-2 against Jacobs’ Henry Gigeous, a 6-3 junior right-hander, in the bottom of the sixth, Huntley (23-10) scrapped together three runs on one hit, three walks, one hit batter and an error.

Gigeous, who is verbally committed to the University of Oregon, walked the first two batters of the inning before Nick Corpolongo dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Gigeous threw the ball into right field, allowing both runners to score, and tying the game at 4-4.

That ended the day for Gigeous. Lyman then greeted the Jacobs reliever with the game-winning single, putting the touches on a 3-for-3 day, which included a double and a hit-by-pitch. Junior right-hander Justin Gundlach pitched a hitless seventh to advance Huntley to the regional final on Saturday. Gundlach (7-3) worked 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief, striking out two, to earn the victory.

“Our guys fight to the end; that’s the type of character they have,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “We’ve come back numerous times. Our guys don’t quit.”

Huntley couldn’t muster much offense against Gigeous, who departed in the sixth inning with no outs. In five innings work, Gigeous (4-4) allowed six hits, walked two, hit two batters and struck out eight — including three in the fifth inning — but committed four errors. All the errors contributed to Huntley’s runs — two of which came on sacrifice bunts.

“We had too many mental mistakes,” Jacobs coach Erik Kehoe said. “It’s tough when you beat yourself.”

Huntley jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, which Brody Burkart led off with a double. Tyler Mindak delivered a run-scoring single in the inning that included two errors.

Jacobs (14-19) got on the board in the fifth inning with four runs thanks to a two-run single by sophomore shortstop Kenny Finn and a two-run double by sophomore centerfielder Connor Conzelman.

Huntley threatened in the fifth, loading up the bases, but Gigeous struck out two straight to get out of the jam.

“Henry is a great pitcher,” said Jakubowski. “He gave us fits today. We just tried to take advantage of some situations.”

Carlos Alvarez went 2-for-3 with a run for Huntley, and sophomore first baseman Kameron Sallee reached base three times.

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