2016 NHSI: Allatoona Cruises Into Semifinals

CARY, N.C.—Allatoona High of Acworth, Ga., doesn’t have as many big arms as some of the other schools at the 2016 National High School Invitational.

So far, that hasn’t mattered.

Junior lefthander Kyle Jacobsen spotted a solid (low 80s) fastball and mixed in well-timed breaking balls and changeups to stymie North Broward Prep for five shutout innings before turning the game over to the bullpen in a 5-1 quarterfinal win. Jacobsen threw strikes on 62 percent (41 of 66) of his pitches.

“I’m not a power pitcher. I can’t blow it by people, so I just try to hit my spots, mix it up and keep them off balance and really locate that fastball when you need to,” Jacobsen said. “My offspeed stuff was all right, but I felt I had a pretty good feel for the fastball today.”

With the win, Allatoona advances to Friday’s semifinal round and is now two wins away from an NHSI title.

North Broward (Coconut Creek, Fla.) did make things interesting in the seventh inning. The first three batters of the seventh reached thanks to an error and back-to-back singles. After Skylar McPhee got back-to-back outs, Anthony Masiello walked to load the bases. But with the tying run at the plate, Brady Eeles came in relief to pick up the save with a fly out. North Broward had also put two runners in scoring position in the sixth, but Nick Gomez induced a ground out to get out of the jam.

In addition to throwing five shutout innings, Jacobsen also went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Brandon Rainey was 3-for-3 with a run scored for Allatoona.

Senior Jacob Davenport will get the start on the mound for Allatoona on Friday.