Twin brothers Jacob and Nathan Robertson are in the unique position of spending their entire high school careers together as teammates for South Elgin.
Jacob, a senior first baseman/pitcher, and Nathan, a senior catcher, have actually embraced that dynamic since childhood.
“It’s nice to have twin power,” Nathan said. “When we were kids, we had T-shirts that said ‘twin power.’”
That power has been on display their whole career but never more than on April 16.
In the Storm’s five-inning, 15-0 win over Fenton, Jacob and Nathan each hit a home run. Jacob struck out seven while throwing a perfect game with Nathan behind the plate.
“Catching a perfect game was probably the biggest deal for me because he’s my brother,” Nathan said. “I’ve seen him grow so much.
“Most of the time he listens to me. I always get on him about not shaking me off because it goes bad sometimes.”
The Fenton game is one of the core memories that Jacob will take with him from his time at South Elgin.
“I had him catching,” Jacob said. “We both hit homers. You’d never expect that going into a game. I was just on top of my game.”
The twins, who are both committed to Elgin Community College, have been key regulars in the lineup this season for the Storm (13-5, 6-0).
Nathan is hitting .444 with 15 RBIs, which ranks second on the team. He has two doubles and a homer. Jacob is hitting .282 with 14 RBIs, a double, two triples and a homer. On the mound, Jacob has a 1.27 ERA over 11 innings. He’s struck out 15, walked four and allowed six hits.
David Palmer, in his first year as South Elgin’s coach, knew the twins were his type of players early on after taking over.
“They’re definitely very similar,” Palmer said. “I’ve met very few people that hate losing more than me. I think they both may hate losing more than me.
“Talking to them in the fall about it, learning their personalities, they fit right in with me.”
As an assistant with St. Charles North, before he even knew he was taking over the program, Palmer saw the dynamic between the two firsthand in South Elgin’s 4-3 win over the North Stars last spring for the regional title.
It was Jacob’s first start on the mound all season after being the team’s main bullpen arm. He delivered when it mattered, and Palmer saw just how close the brothers were.
“We haven’t had that high-intensity moment with him on the mound yet where you get to see them actually in their element, but you watch them in the regional title game last year, you can see it,” Palmer said. “They look at each other and have that twin telepathy.
“They rile each other up and it’s fun to watch.”
That’s the game that Nathan points back to the most as well.
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“That was huge in his confidence for pitching,” Nathan said. “That was probably one of the biggest games of my life. He pitched a wonderful game. He did everything he should have.”
Another wrinkle in the twins’ journey? They’ve both been dealing with diabetes since age 7.
“Diabetes has been a very big part of our lives,” Nathan said. “It’s a lifelong thing that we have to deal with. During baseball, I kind of forget about it because it’s all baseball in my head.
“Usually, the adrenaline keeps us going in games. It levels us out during the game.”
Jacob knows their time in high school is running short, so he’s trying to soak it all in.
“It’s starting to get stressful coming down to the final weeks,” Jacob said. “I’ve been playing with him my whole life. It’s really cool to have a brother there that’s always counting on you.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.