Pistol Shrimp shut out Clinton for Northwest Division title

PERU – With the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp holding a three-run lead and the first two Clinton LumberKings batters reaching base on walks in the top of the ninth inning , manager John Jakiemiec made a slow walk to the mound during Thursday night’s Prospect League Playoffs Northwest Division title game.

After a short chat and a pat on the back to relief pitcher Jared Herzog, the Pistol Shrimp skipper returned to the dugout with his left-hander still on the hill.

“I’ve had Jared on this team for three years now, and I’ve told anyone that will listen to me how strong I feel about him,” Jakiemiec said. “In the toughest of spots, I will always die on a hill with that guy, win or lose.

“He is my guy, and every one of his teammates feels the same way.”

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Fans at the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp game perform the "YMCA" on Thursday, August 1, 2024, at Schweickert Stadium at Veterans Park in Peru. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Media)

Herzog responded by striking out the next three batters to close out a thrilling 3-0 victory in front of 1,843 fans and send the Pistol Shrimp to the Western Conference Championship Game against the Thrillville Thrillbillies on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in Schwiekert Stadium at Veterans Memorial Park.

“It’s always cool to be pitching for a championship of any kind. Add on pitching in front of a great crowd like we had tonight, especially having a chance to get the final out, it doesn’t get much better. Nothing beats it.”

—  Jared Herzog, 2019 Ottawa High School graduate, pitcher for the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp

In their third playoff appearance in five seasons, the Pistol Shrimp added to the division title they won in 2022.

“I took the mound visit there in the ninth because I know Jared so well,” Jakiemiec said. “He tries and presses a little too hard sometimes, so I know when I go out there he is going to get things reset. Then you saw it – bang, bang, bang, game is over.

“He has gone through so much, with the arm injury last summer and working to get back. It was very special to see Jared pitch and compete the way he did tonight. Truly amazing.”

Thrillville defeated the Cape Catfish 13-6 on Thursday in Marion for the South Division championship.

Herzog (5-0) finished his spectacular outing allowing no hits, walking four and fanning 10 in five innings. Pistol Shrimp starter Zach Kempe set the tone, going the opening four frames and giving up a pair of hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

“You always plan out how you want things to go with your pitching staff going into every game,” Jakiemiec said. “Sometimes it doesn’t always work out, but tonight we got exactly what we hoped for from Zach and Jared.

“Zach still hasn’t worked up a base yet, so we were going to keep his pitch count down. From there, it was simply going to be what the score was when Zach needed to come out. Maybe if we had had a bigger lead, we may have bridged the gap to Jared with someone. But in a two-run game, that’s just a bloop and a blast, and you’re tied.”

The Pistol Shrimp grabbed the lead for good in the first inning when Kyle Gibson lined a ball off the fence down the right field line for a one-out double and scored on a two-out, broken-bat single to center by cleanup hitter Louis Perona.

The hosts made it 2-0 in the third, as Gibson collected a one-out single, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a base hit to left by Tyler Dorsch.

In the Pistol Shrimp eighth, Will Ashley coaxed a one-out walk before pinch runner Peyton Burgh raced around to score on Gibson’s fourth hit of the game in five tries, a double to right-center.

The red-hot Gibson, who finished the regular season Wednesday going 6 for 6 against Normal to hold the top spot for the league with 72 hits, now has 13 in his last 19 at-bats and posted his 23rd multihit game of the summer.

Herzog, a 2019 Ottawa High School graduate, said that while the ninth inning started out a little rough, the visit at the mound by Jakiemiec was exactly what he needed.

“I knew they’d be taking until they got a strike there in the ninth and I knew I had to get ahead, but I just didn’t,” Herzog said. “After John came out, I just settled back in. Those last three batters I was able to locate my changeup and get some swings and misses. I was just going with my normal two-pitch mix of fastball and changeup. I only threw one slider and was able to get a big strikeout with it.

“It’s always cool to be pitching for a championship of any kind. Add on pitching in front of a great crowd like we had here tonight, but especially having a chance to get the final out, it doesn’t get much better.

“Nothing beats it.”