For the past five days, junior pitcher Anthony Edge focused on Jacobs’ next opponent.
After the Golden Eagles won the regional championship Saturday with a 5-3 win over Grant, Edge had been preparing to take the mound Thursday against Huntley.
“I was like, ‘This is my game,” Edge said. “This whole week, I was just trying to keep my body right, working on my pitches. Landing the slider was a big thing against this team.
“I just wanted to make sure I could get all my pitches across for strikes. I was just hoping the preparation I did all offseason helped me perform.”
Edge performed well for the host Golden Eagles in the Class 4A Jacobs Sectional semifinals, but a couple of mistakes wound up over the wall during a 10-1 loss.
Even though Edge allowed four runs on five hits in five innings for Jacobs (22-12), only three runs were earned. The Bradley recruit struck out four and walked one.
“You let a team get a few good pitches on you, they’ll hit the mistakes,” Edge said. “I don’t think the wind was very friendly. I thought I executed a lot of pitches that were low in the zone and inside. They put the bat on the ball and the wind did the rest.
“This game should have been a lot different. Sometimes, the baseball gods aren’t on your side.”
Brayden Bakes hit a solo homer in the third for the Red Raiders (31-4), who added an unearned run later in the inning. Then in the fifth, Brandon Hanley connected for a two-run homer to extend the lead to 4-0.
Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said he chose to start Edge over Eastern Illinois-bound Nathan Chapman due to Huntley’s unfamiliarity with Edge.
“Would we do it again?” Murray said. “I would do the same thing. We were going to do what we needed to do. ‘Chap’ had thrown against them earlier.
“They hadn’t seen (Edge) in two years. One or two pitches, it could be a different game.”
Offensively, Jacobs produced traffic but couldn’t get much going.
The Golden Eagles had runners caught stealing three times and hit into a double play to end the sixth. The only run came on a pinch-hit solo homer from Peter Mitchell in the sixth.
“A lot of things could have happened,” Murray said. “In the past, we’ve had situations where the chaos put us in a situation to win. It just didn’t work out.”
After Mitchell’s home run cut the lead to 4-1, Jacobs had runners on first and third with nobody out but hit into the double play to end that threat.
“The Mitchell home run, I felt like we had the juice — first and third, no outs,” Murray said. “All the credit goes to Huntley. I wish them all the best.”
The silver lining for Jacobs? The Golden Eagles return seven of Thursday’s 10 starters.
“We’ll learn from it,” Murray said. “The seniors did a fantastic job for us winning that regional. They set the tone for next year. We’ll get back to work.”
Edge hopes the experience of playing on the sectional stage in front of a huge crowd will pay off next season.
“I’ve had the opportunity to play in some higher-level games throughout summer ball, but for a lot of these kids, it was their first big-time game,” Edge said. “I think we have some experience now.”
Personally, Edge realizes this game won’t be far from his mind during the summer.
“It’s just fuel,” Edge said. “All offseason we’ll think about this game. I think pitching this game was a perfect setup for next year.
” I think if we have another matchup with them, it will be a little different.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.