Despite his lack of control Wednesday, Reilly Peltier controlled Hononegah.
The 6-5 Jacobs right-hander hit the first two Hononegah batters and walked three in the first three innings, but he never seemed in trouble as he allowed one in 6 1/3 innings for a 7-1 victory in a Class 4A McHenry Sectional semifinal.
“He was amped up a little bit,” Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said of Peltier. “Credit to him for competing. I thought he was outstanding.
“Yeah, he had a couple walks, a couple hit batters. But I think he was effectively wild.”
Peltier (7-2) struck out the side after hitting the first two and then took control. Peltier had a no-hitter until giving up a single to Sam Bellano leading off the fifth.
“It was a lot of fastballs away, some two-seamers inside,” Peltier said.
As for the wildness, “It makes it more interesting that way,” Peltier said. “It wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to start, but it’s all right.”
Peltier threw a wild pitch on a third strike to give Hononegah its only run, but he struck out 11 and stayed in until one out in the seventh Murray decided to get reliever Jake Jemmi work in preparation for the title game against Prairie Ridge, which beat Huntley 5-1 Wednesday.
“As I went out there I just kind of went with it,” Peltier said. “I saw where the holes in their swings were and pitched to it.
“I felt like I could finish, but coach wanted to pull me (after 105 pitches). He wants to pitch me Monday in supersectionals.”
The senior, who will pitch at McHenry Community College next year, easily outdueled Hononegah’s Donovin Sims, who will play for Northern Illinois. The Golden Eagles had nine hits off Sims, including a home run by Matt Kozlak over the 360-foot mark in left-center leading off the fifth for a 3-1 lead.
The Golden Eagles had two hits and two RBI from Ben Murray, two hits from Jemmi and two RBI from Grant Kale.
“It was a complete team win,” Jamie Murray said. “I thought the energy on the bench was great. The coaching staff was working well together.”
Jacobs (24-13) scored in the first when Kozlak and Murray singled off Sims (10-3) and Kale hit a sacrifice fly to center. After Hononegah (23-10) tied it in the third, Murray turned to small ball in the fourth for the lead, before Kozlak’s long ball leading off the fifth.
After Dan Vandewalker’s single and two errors loaded the bases, Murray had Jemmi put down an unconventional bases-loaded bunt. The ball went perfectly between the mound and first base line and rolled for an RBI single.
“In practice I’ve just been working on getting it down because we’ve been struggling at that in past games,” Jemmi said. “I knew fastball because he didn’t double up at all.
“The pitcher was charging so much it just got right by him.”
After the home run in the fifth, Jacobs drove Donovin from the mound with a four-run sixth. Owen Oreskovich’s RBI single, Ben Murray’s two-run double and Kale’s RBI single accounted for the scoring.
Jacobs will try for its second consecutive supersectional berth against Prairie Ridge.
