Eight regional titles great for baseball
HUNTLEY — A bounce back effort in the IHSA Class 4A DeKalb Regional kept an important tradition going well for Huntley’s baseball squad.
Huntley dominated Rockford Jefferson 25-1 in the regional semifinals May 22. The Red Raiders outlasted DeKalb and the weather, for an 8-0 regional final championship May 24. This marks eight straight years the Red Raiders have advanced to IHSA Sectional play. The HHS squad, 27-7-1, faces Barrington at the Hampshire sectional at 4:30 p.m. May 29.
“We had some adversity the week before with tying Libertyville (1-1) and losing to Palatine (4-3) and Antioch (5-0). Our guys did a great job of coming together this past week. They made more of a concentrated effort to hit the ball back through the middle and got refocused again,” Huntley head coach Andy Jakubowski said.
Ryan Dabe was 3 for 4 and AJ Jakubowski was 2 for 3. Malachi Paplanus got the nod to be the starting pitcher against the Barbs, but due to a long weather delay, his day was a short one.
“We had to go by a bullpen by committee day and AJ Putty, Josh Rudnick and Colby Aschenbach continued to put up the zeroes,” Andy Jakubowski said.
The Barbs were limited to one hit by the four HHS pitchers in the six-inning game.
Andy Jakubowski commented on the uniqueness of this regional title, his 12th overall at Huntley.
“Our guys were excited to play at NIU, and when the storm hit, they got into their football facility to just hang out, play some soccer or throw the football around.”
Sectional preview
Three of the four Hampshire sectional teams are Fox Valley Conference rivals. McHenry (24-10, 10-8 FVC) faces host Hampshire (28-7, 12-6) in the first semifinal at 2 p.m. Huntley, the FVC champs at 14-4, play Mid Suburban West champ Barrington (22-13-1, 13-1).
Sectional semifinal winners advance to the Hampshire sectional final at 2 p.m., June 1.
MCC baseball season ends
As previously reported, the McHenry County College men’s baseball team won the NJCAA Division I Region IV championship.
The Scots lost both games at the Midwest Division I Tournament, to Iowa Western, 6-2 on May 16 after falling to John Logan, 10-4, at Mt. Carmel, Ill. MCC ended with a 43-13 record and won the Skyway Conference title with a 12-1 mark.
Huntley alumnus Brandon Hanley is a freshman for the Scots. Their head coach is Jared Wacker.
