Baseball: Zac Camacho, Jacobs squeeze past Huntley

Updated: May 3, 2012 8:18PM

Considering Jacobs senior Zac Camacho had belted a home run earlier in the game, a suicide squeeze didn’t figure to be in the works. Facing Fox Valley Valley rival Huntley for the second time in three days on Thursday, Camacho was at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with the game tied at 2 and runners on first and third. On a 3-1 count, Camacho laid down a suicide squeeze down the first base line to score Connor Conzelman. Ryan Ulmer followed with an RBI single up the middle and the host Golden Eagles pulled out a dramatic 4-2 win, their first over Huntley since 2007.

“(Jacobs coach Jamie Murray) told me before the at-bat that he’d give me once chance for a hit,” Camacho said. “But I got to 3-0 and he threw that strike. Then it was great timing for that call.”

Camacho delivered again in the top of the seventh. After reliever Max Rider (1 1/3 innings, 0 runs) yielded a one-out single, Camacho came in to the game and hit the first batter he faced. After a sacrifice bunt, Huntley (15-13, 7-7) had runners on second and third with two outs, but Camacho induced a groundout to end the game.

“The great part about this game is that it was free. It didn’t cost anything to see it,” Murray joked. “Huntley — that’s a program we strive to duplicate. They’re in our regional and now we know we can beat them.”

Huntley took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Tyler Albright delivered a two-out single. Jacobs (15-10, 9-4) came back in the bottom half of the frame and tied it after a Camacho homer to left. Later in the inning, Rider came through with a two-out RBI single for a 2-1 lead off Huntley starter Justin Gundlach, who gave up four runs on six hits with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings in the loss.

Huntley tied it in the fifth after Jacobs starter Nick Ledinsky (five innings, four strikeouts, four hits, two runs) hit Mark Skonieczny with the bases loaded to force in a run. Ledinsky struck out the next batter as Huntley left the bases loaded.

“It was a well played game on both sides,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “Tip your hat to Camacho. He had a nice day at the plate. Getting that 3-1 pitch down on a breaking ball - it was a nice call.”

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