Dundee-Crown’s Jared Russell made a big decision on Easter Sunday.
On the heels of a successful winter season, Russell made the choice that basketball would be his future and committed to play that sport at Judson.
That makes this baseball season, his final one, even more special.
“Definitely soaking this in, not going to take it for granted,” Russell said. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but I fell in love with basketball a little bit more. It felt like a weight was lifted off me.”
In his first start on the mound since making that decision, Russell battled through five-plus innings to get the win Thursday and helped his own cause by going 4-for-5 in a 13-4 Fox Valley Conference win over host Jacobs in Algonquin.
Logan Gutierrez went 3-for-3 with two RBIs from the ninth spot in the batting order for the Chargers (10-8, 3-6). Brady Benton, Hayden DeMarsh and Isaac Grzynkowicz each had two hits.
Aaden Colon had two hits and two RBIs for Jacobs (6-10, 1-7). Ryan Tucker added an RBI double.
Russell did what he always does on the mound — compete. He left the game after facing one batter in the sixth, which came after the Chargers scored eight runs in the top half of the inning.
It also was Russell who had a two-run single in that rally to break a 4-4 tie.
“It was definitely my best game hitting this year,” Russell said. “I just went up there and knew I had to put the ball in play. I had runners in scoring position every time I came up.
“I just think I saw the ball well, tried to put the bat on the ball and make things happen.”
Andrew Zimmer, Dundee-Crown’s first-year coach, knew what he was going to get on the mound.
“Jared is just going to keep us in every game,” Zimmer said. “He did the same thing against Crystal Lake Central and he did it again (Thursday). He’s our quote-unquote one, and every time he’s available we’re going to go to him. He’s going to keep the score low.
“As long as our defense plays well, he’s going to keep us in every game he pitches.”
That’s pretty much the same thing Jacobs coach Jamie Murray saw from the opposing dugout.
“I thought Russell threw well,” Murray said. “He gave them a lot of innings. He competes. He’s a basketball stud, and he does a really good job on the baseball field.”
On the flip side, it has been an uncharacteristically rough start for the Golden Eagles, but Murray is preaching patience.
“I told the guys, ‘Tough times won’t last forever, but tough teams will,’” Murray said. “It’s just building resilience, embracing the failure that happened.”
Meanwhile, it has been a solid start to the season for Dundee-Crown, a program that hasn’t seen a lot of recent success. Russell can see the shift in mentality in already.
“We definitely have a lot more confidence,” Russell said. “We have a lot more kids wanting to put in the hard work and wanting to get better. I just think we have more guys that want to win and care about the team. I just think the vibe has been better.”
Zimmer, who took over in July, is pleased with the results so far.
“It’s a huge improvement,” Zimmer said. “I think they bought in early. I also think we have a lot of talent and a lot of good senior leaders on the team. They’ve worked hard since I came in July.”
Russell is definitely on that list of tough seniors.
“We’re very excited about him,” Zimmer said. “He’s so good at putting the ball over the plate for us, throws a lot of strikes and doesn’t walk a lot of guys.
“He’s a leader on this team, and we know he’s going to get the job done.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
