Neither Brandon Petersen nor Jason Neville are used to losing much on the mound for Waubonsie Valley.
Faced with the proposition of coping with Petersen and Neville losing back-to-back starts for the first time, Jacob Hennessy took to the hill on a cold Tuesday with one thing in mind.
Stem the tide.
Using the weather conditions to his advantage, Hennessy went the distance as Waubonsie Valley picked up a 5-2 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Metea Valley.
“It’s always important to win games in tough conferences like this,” Hennessy said. “It’s really important, especially because we lost three, to get back on the right track and like the winning ways we’re used to here.”
The senior left-hander made the most of his 110 pitches on his way to evening his record at 2-2 on the season for the Warriors (12-7, 7-6).
Tying his season high with four strikeouts, he was able to limit the damage Metea Valley (10-10, 5-8) did in its best opportunity to score.
Staked to a 5-0 lead, Hennessy saw the Mustangs load the bases in the bottom of the fourth with nobody out after an error, a walk and a single.
From there, he just surrendered sacrifice flies to Jack Feeley and Matt Vass and got out of the inning still armed with a three-run lead.
“Not very much (was working),” Hennessy said of his repertoire. “Just really the fastball, going away with it. Changing speeds a little bit with the changeup. Changeup was spotty all day.”
Much like his counterpart on the hill, Mustangs’ lefty Joey Coryell threw seven innings – giving up five runs – three earned – on five hits.
RBI singles from both Quinton Zielke and Jason Neville sparked a three-run third for Waubonsie Valley, which got two of its five runs as a direct result of errors.
Coryell ended his day by putting forth 1-2-3 innings in both the fifth and the sixth while erasing a leadoff single from Johnny Johnson with a strikeout and double play.
“We didn’t hit the ball very well. He did a nice job of limiting balls on our barrels,” Waubonsie Valley coach Bryan Acevedo said of Coryell. “We just took advantage of some baserunners that we did have. But he battled. He got better as the game went on.
“I think he retired the last nine out of the last 10 guys he saw. So he was good for them. We just kind of did enough getting some guys on.”
On obviously not the best day to hit, Neville was the only Warrior to record two hits off Coryell while Connor Yukna, Zielke and Neville all knocked in runs.
But given the three-game sweep it was handed by DVC-leading Naperville Central last weekend, Hennessy’s ability to pick up both Petersen and Neville was invaluable.
“It was a big-time performance from him,” Acevedo said of Hennessy. “This is a very good hitting team and the conditions were right for a pitcher. Jacob kept the ball down and did enough on the mound to get a win there.”
