Sean Dabe delivers in relief as Huntley holds off Dundee-Crown

HUNTLEY – A funny guy who likes to joke around on the ball field and maybe even in Mr. Jakubowski’s English class, Huntley sophomore pitcher Sean Dabe was put in a not-so-fun situation Friday.

Mr. Jakubowski, who’s also known as Red Raiders baseball coach Andy Jakubowski, called on Dabe to snuff out a developing rally by Dundee-Crown in the top of the third inning of the teams’ Fox Valley Conference game. Huntley starter Mason Leske had just walked the first two hitters.

Actually, for Dabe, the Raiders’ main man out of the bullpen, that was a fun situation.

“I’ve been pitching since a very young age,” Dabe said. “I love that adrenaline when I come out of the bullpen.”

Huntley needed the rush provided by Dabe, who earned the win in the Raiders’ 3-2 victory. He struck out nine in 4⅔ innings and was one out away from ending the game before allowing a single to Kyle Pierce, a walk to Jared Russell and an RBI single to former travel ball teammate Ikey Grzynkowicz to pull the Chargers within one.

“I was sitting slider because I know he likes to pound people with it,” said Grzynkowicz, who lined an opposite-field single to right to end Dabe’s day.

Dylan Visvadra got a called third strike with runners on first and second to earn the save.

When he relieved Leske with Huntley (14-11, 8-7) leading 2-1 in the the third, Dabe got Russell to fly out. He then picked Brady Benton off second base and struck out Grzynkowicz to get out of the inning unscathed.

Dabe didn’t allow a hit until Russell singled leading off the sixth. Dabe hit Grzynkowicz and gave up an infield single to Hayden DeMarsh to load the bases with one out. But the righty retired the next two hitters on a strikeout and pop up, respectively, to escape any damage.

“Sean gave us an opportunity to add on more runs by putting zeroes up,” Jakubowski said. “He changed speeds extremely well, and he attacked hitters.”

Dabe dominated with his slider and a fastball that hit 85 mph.

“He’s always had a good fastball,” Grzynkowicz said of his former GRB Rays travel teammate. “His slider moves a lot, and he’s just a solid pitcher.”

Dabe hasn’t started a game on the mound this season, but he has thrown 25-30 innings and has been effective.

“As a sophomore, pitching on varsity, being one of the main arms on the team, it’s great,” Dabe said. “I have a lot of fun with my teammates, and pitching, obviously I love pitching. All that adrenaline, it’s so much fun.”

The one-run loss amounted to another frustrating game for D-C (10-16, 3-12), which, besides having a runner picked off, had a runner thrown out at home on a perfect throw from center fielder Drew Borkowski to complete a second-inning double play.

“With a lot of these games, we’re in them, we’re in them, and we just can’t break through,” Chargers coach Andrew Zimmer said. “It’s like the baseball gods won’t let us break one open. We told them, ‘Just wait. It’s coming.’ But I’m happy with the way we competed and we played, especially against a great team like Huntley.”

D-C starting pitcher Russell, who recently committed to play basketball at Judson University, went the distance. He struck out nine, including the side in the sixth, and allowed only four hits – two each by AJ Putty and T.J. Jakubowski – and two walks.

T.J. Jakubowski was 2 for 2 with two stolen bases and a fifth-inning RBI single in the fifth that proved to be the difference. A dropped fly ball with two out in the first inning had allowed Huntley to take a 2-0 lead.

“Jared is so good,” Zimmer said of Russell. “It’s crazy. He’s going to play college basketball, but I think he could any team that wanted him to. He’s always going to be in the zone, he’s going to throw a lot of strikes, and he’s going to challenge good teams.”