By Drake Skleba

 

GENEVA - Geneva junior right fielder Chris Hipchen waited until the 11^th inning of Friday’s crucial Western Sun Conference battle between first-place DeKalb and second-place Geneva to hit his 12^th home run of the season.

 

With Alex Sroka on first base, Hipchen hit a 2-0 fastball from DeKalb right-handed senior Jake Lemay over the centerfield fence for a 6-4, 11-inning Viking victory. The monster blast put the Vikings into a first-pace tie with DeKalb.

 

“I was sitting dead red, 2-0 fastball and I hit it out of here,” said Hipchen. “I haven’t been swinging the bat well this week. It was about time for me to step up and help my team win a big ballgame.”

 

Indeed he did. With the win, Geneva (20-8; 13-5) and DeKalb (18-7; 13-5) are tied atop the Western Sun standings. Geneva closes out the season with a three-game series next week with Sycamore. DeKalb will wrap up with a three-game set versus Kaneland (17-10; 10-5).Kaneland, which is tied in the loss column with Geneva and DeKalb, opened a three-game makeup series with Sycamore on Friday.

 

Geneva jumped all over DeKalb junior starting RHP Blaine Parson for three runs in the first inning. With two outs, Geneva senior first baseman Jack Delabar singled home the first run and junior DH Jim Martin drove home two more with another single for a quick 3-0 Geneva lead.

 

In the bottom of the second, DeKalb head coach Justin Keck brought in his senior catcher Jake Lemay to the mound in relief of Parson. Lemay was simply amazing. In nine innings of relief, Lemay allowed one unearned run and one hit while striking out 14 Viking hitters.

 

Lemay got DeKalb on the board against Geneva starting pitcher senior Alex Stroka (5 IP

3R 5H 2ER 8K 3BB) when he was hit with the bases loaded to bring the Barbs within 3-1. In the fifth, he would pick up another RBI with a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-2.

 

In the bottom of the fifth Geneva’s No.9 hitter senior second baseman Brian Cornick stole the fourth Geneva run from DeKalb and Lemay. Cornick walked, stole second and third base and then scored on a passed ball to give Geneva a 4-2 lead after 5.

 

After leaving the bases loaded in the second, fourth and fifth innings, DeKalb scored twice to knot things up in the top of the sixth. Sophomore second baseman Kevin Sullivan led off the inning with a double which ended the day for Sroka.

 

Junior right-hander Kyle Bender relieved Sroka. After one out, Bender walked junior left fielder Cody Varga and gave up an RBI single to sophomore leadoff man Brian Sisler (2-for-4, BB, RBI) to bring the Barbs within 4-3.Bender drilled senior Frank Petras and Bender’s day was done.

 

Geneva head coach Matt Hahn went to his ace Riley Perry (8-1), who threw a complete-game 4-3 loss to DeKalb on Wednesday. After striking out the first hitter he faced, Lemay struck again for a clutch two-out RBI single to knot things up at 4.

 

Perry and Lemay proceeded to put goose eggs on the board through the 10^th. Lemay was beginning to show signs of wear in the ninth and 10^th innings, repeatedly doing stretching exercises between innings for his right arm. The end was inevitable, although the amazing senior pitcher continued to pile up strikeouts.

 

Perry added another goose egg in the Barb 11^th. Perry was amazing in relief, firing 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball. He allowed one hit and struck out nine.

 

“I thought I could go an inning or two after Wednesday,” said Perry. “My arm was strong and I really threw the ball hard tonight. This was a must-win for us and I pitched very well.”

 

Sroka ripped a single off Lemay to leadoff the 11^th.The first two balls were out of the strike zone to Hipchen. On the third pitch of the at bat, Hipchen sent everybody home.

 

There were 32 strikeouts in this marathon. Sroka and Perry combined for 17 and Lemay and Parson had 15.The two teams combined for 12 hits.

 

“This is outstanding,” said Hipchen. “We could not ask for anything better - tied for first with three games to go.”