Harlem battling weather to start new baseball season

By Bob Balgemann
REPORTER
Harlem’s new varsity baseball has been ready for a while to start the 2017 season. But Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated very much.
Not long ago a baseball diamond was created in a field of snow at the high school, with some of the Huskies wishing it would melt so they could play their first game.
That finally did happen last week when Harlem traveled to Rochelle and battled the Hubs to a 3-3 standoff. Sophomore Eric Steiner, one of four returning players with varsity experience, pitched 6 2/3 strong innings, not allowing an earned run.
Another sophomore, Jordan Anderson, drove in one run as did Steiner and junior Gage Stine.
Joining Steiner in making up the core of veterans are senior Jake Nimtz, a four-year varsity performer, along with juniors Logan Burbach, Takuma Kobayashi and Omar Ramirez.
Steiner batted .368 with seven hits in 19 trips to the plate. He drove in three runs. As a pitcher, he compiled a 3.91 earned run average over 14.3 innings of work.
Nimtz, a left-handed pitcher, struck out 46 in 41 innings and had an ERA of 3.07. He went 5-for-31 at the plate, batting .161 with 12 runs scored and six RBIs.
Burbach pitched 10 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and a 3.94 earned run average.
Kobayaski threw four innings and finished with a 5.25 ERA.
Ramirez hit .200 with one base hit in five at-bats.
Young team, overall
Harlem graduated 10 seniors from a team that won the NIC-10 championship with a 17-1 record and went 24-9 overall. Longtime head coach Doug Livingston retired after a 24-year career, which saw his teams at Auburn and Harlem win more than 300 games.
Now the new head coach, Scott McCloy, has inherited a young team but as he put it, “We may be young but

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