This post was originally published on this site
ASU starting pitcher, junior left-hander Ben Jacobs delivers a pitch against Kansas this season. (Photo courtesy Nate Astalos for Inferno Intel).
Over the past few years, UC Irvine senior catcher Blake Penso and Arizona State junior left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs have taken different paths to grow into the all-conference collegiate baseball players they are today. However, the two can trace their roots of development back to the same source: Huntington Beach High School.
Under the lights of Jackie Robinson Stadium, the former Huntington Beach stars will square off in the second game at the Los Angeles Regional between UCI and ASU Friday night.
In their lone season together on the varsity level, the former teammates won a Sunset Surf League title in 2021, with an undefeated record in league play under head coach Benji Medure.
It marked the third league title for Penso with the Oilers. The catcher remained crucial to the team’s success, making the All-Sunset League first team twice. Yet, for Medure, Penso’s presence as a vocal leader and an excellent teammate far outweighed his talent on the field.
“Penso was always out in front being the biggest cheerleader for all of his teammates,” Medure said.
“If you see Blake on the field right now at UCI, it’s exactly how he was on the field in high school,” Medure said. “He’s vocal. He’s animated. He’s out in front. He doesn’t let anybody get down.”
He recalls one instance in particular that stood out, in which Penso celebrated a home run from his teammate, second baseman Riley Reece.
Reece, who recorded his first homer of the year after spending most of the season as a backup, received an ecstatic embrace from Penso.
“If you watch the video, you’ll see Penso come out of the dugout, literally jumping up and down excited, in tears,” Medure said. “He was so happy for his teammate. Blake is always team first. Always has been, always will be.”
This mindset carried through to college, as Penso patiently waited on the bench for three years before getting the chance to start behind the dish for UCI this season. Despite receiving limited playing time, Penso stuck it out, refusing to transfer.
“When I talked to him and he talked to our coaches, he was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to get my time. I don’t want to be a part of any other program. I don’t want to go in the portal and run from this. This is the program I want to be a part of, and it’s just making me a better leader.’”
When given the opportunity, he didn’t disappoint. Penso mashed his way to a .302 batting average and tallied 44 RBI for the Anteaters this spring, leading his team to a first-place finish in the Big West regular season standings. The stellar senior campaign landed Penso on the All-Big West first team.
Meanwhile, like Penso, adversity tested Jacobs before he shined on the collegiate stage. Following a shaky first year at UCLA, Jacobs transferred to ASU in hopes of reinventing his game.
His leap of faith paid off, as he quickly transformed into the ace of the Sun Devils’ staff, landing on the All-Big 12 second team this season after leading the conference in strikeouts (114).
But unlike Penso, Jacobs faced some turbulence during his high school career with Huntington Beach. During times when Jacobs struggled, Medure noticed a familiar face instilling confidence in the young flamethrower.
“Blake was always there pounding him (Jacobs) in his chest, saying ‘you got this’ but also never let Ben slack.”
“Blake just never gave up on him,” Medure said. “I think some people did give up on him … but Penso never did. Penso was always there for him.”
Then, in his senior season, something clicked for Jacobs. Working with pitching coach Adam Springston, he took his game to another level. Jacobs pieced together an impressive senior campaign, garnering a 0.93 ERA and recording a school-record 99 strikeouts.
Although his most spectacular feat might have come in the CIF Division I Southern Regional Championship game.
A few days earlier, Jacobs pitched in the first game of the regionals, a 5-1 win over La Costa Canyon, with the expectation that it’d be his final outing of his high school career.
Not anticipating to pitch again, he got his wisdom teeth removed on the day before the title game against JSerra.
Jacobs, feeling suboptimal just a day after surgery, arrived at the field looking more than unfit to play: No uniform, no cleats and a face swollen up like a chipmunk.
Still, Medure asked him to throw a bullpen and provide an update on how he was feeling. Jacobs, who admitted to feeling great, quickly scrapped together a uniform – another teammate’s jersey and cleats – and eagerly awaited a chance to come in off the bench.
Once Huntington Beach took a 2-0 lead in extra innings, Jacobs didn’t give his coach a choice with the chance to secure a championship-game save.
“I don’t even have to say anything,” Medure said. “I see Ben go running down to the bullpen. His cheeks are so fat that you can barely fit them into his hat. He’s got the wrong jersey on. He’s got cleats that are two sizes too big, and he goes down and he closes the game for us and we win. He never would have done that as a junior or a sophomore. He never would have even considered doing that.”
“But his toughness and how much he matured, and how much he wanted to win, grew as he got older. He’s a legend for us with that story. [It’s] one of the best things I’ve ever seen.”
The legendary performance cemented a historical senior season for Jacobs with Huntington Beach and added a CIF Division I Southern Regional Championship to his resume.
Now, he, along with Penso and others, gives his time to pay it forward to the program that helped him develop into the player he is today.
“We decided to play a game at ASU, where he (Jacobs) could sit in the dugout with us, talk to our pitchers, talk to our players and coaches,” Medure said. “It was amazing … Ben was talking to every single pitcher about change-up grips, fastball location and giving them tips on how to be aggressive. It was pretty cool to see.”
This weekend, it all comes full circle for Jacobs. In a regional with his former high school running mates, Penso and UCLA redshirt freshman outfielder Aidan Espinoza, he gets a chance to face off against prior teammates from the high school and collegiate levels at UCLA.
“He (Penso) caught me every single time I pitched when he was on my high school team,” Jacobs said at a press conference this week. “That’s another little full circle moment [for me]. I was committed to UC Irvine out of high school before I went to UCLA, and it’s all coming together now.
“It’s really cool playing against guys that I used to play with all the time, like [in] my freshman year of college and high school, like Penso. Back in my home state, an hour away from where I grew up, it’s going to be super cool and fun.”
With family members, friends and former coaches in the crowd, the Huntington Beach stars will be in the spotlight in Los Angeles this weekend.
“It’s going to be super meaningful,” Jacobs said. “A lot of my family is going to be able to make it out there, [they] wouldn’t be able to if we were to go somewhere else, so I’m super grateful for that. Just competing against my friends on my old teams is going to be awesome, too. It’s going to be winner-takes-all, and we’re going to leave it all out on the field.”
For best view, click on the photo:
“,”load_all”:false,”error_template”:”
{{ERROR}}
“,”inner_caption”:true,”caption_position”:”over”,”thumbs_position”:”bottom”,”arrow_position”:”inside”,”toolbar”:false,”infobar”:true,”show_smallbtn”:true,”idle_time”:false,”click_content”:false,”click_slide”:false,”click_outside”:false,”animation_duration”:false,”transition_duration”:false,”small_btn_template”:”“}” data-parsed-attrs=”{“id”:”190256″,”cache”:true}”>
