Late Boylan rally stuns Harlem in NIC-10 baseball showdown

KARISSA LINDBERG SWANSON PHOTOThe Journal
North Suburban Library District President Jane Burden is pictured April 24 with Mayor Darryl Lindberg with the honorary plaque thanking Lindberg for his years of service to the City of Loves Park.

By Bob Balgemann
REPORTER
Harlem was on the verge of a key NIC-10 baseball victory over Boylan at home. But the Titans spoiled that hope by scoring four runs in the top of the sixth inning Friday evening to remain unbeaten in conference play with a 6-5 victory.
Things were going the Huskies way with a strong pitching performance by senior Jake Nimtz. He had 10 strikeouts and only allowed two unearned runs through five innings. And he helped himself with a two-out, RBI single that produced the three-run lead in the last of the fifth.
But with Harlem up, 5-3, a two-out error opened the door to three more runs in the Boylan sixth and the 6-5 edge.
The game then was called because of darkness.
Jordan Anderson’s sacrifice fly in the last of the third scored Omar Ramirez with the go-ahead run in a 3-2 game. In the second, an error on David Starr’s grounder and a single by Tyler Cason gave the Huskies (10-11, 5-4) an early 2-0 lead.
Eric Steiner and Starr reached base in the fifth and scored on Jacob Correnti’s grounder and the aforementioned single from Nimtz.
Two days earlier a road trip to Freeport, longest dlstance of all NIC-10 games, resulted in a pair of losses losses for the Halem baseball and softball teams.
The Pretzels (5-2) edged past the Huskies (5-3) in the conference standings as they rode a five-run second inning to a 6-3 victory.
Harlem got on the board in the first inning when Ramirez drove home David Galassi, who reached on an error. It was 2-1, visitors, in the top of the second after Steiner walked and scored on Galassi’s two-out triple.
Another two-out hit, this one a double by Steiner, scored Anderson, who opened the third inning with a walk, to make it a 6-3 game. But the Huskies (10-10-1) only had one more scoring opportunity, in the sixth, when Steiner and Nimtz both singled with one out. They were left on base.
In a key conference softball game Freeport (16-4, 7-1) took an early 4-0 lead, then emerged with a 6-1 victory.
Before Freeport, the Lady Huskies romped past Jefferson, 16-0, while the junior varsity routed the Lady J-Hawks, 17-0.
Earlier in the week Harlem entertained Jefferson in baseball and rang up a 9-4 lead before winning, 9-7.
Takuma Kobayashi (2-for-4) slammed a two-out, bases-loaded double in the first inning to spark a 4-1 lead over the J-Hawks. The other run came in when Jake Martin singled in Ramirez, who started the game with a base hit.
Correnti made it 5-1 in the last of the second when he walked, stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored on Ramirez’s infield out.
Correnti was at it again in the fourth when he led off with a double and eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk to Steiner, also with two out.
With the score 6-4, Harlem added three in the fifth for a seemingly insurmountable 9-4 lead.
Seth McPeek started things with a single and moved up a base when Correnti reached again, this time by walking. Both scored on a single by Galassi, who later came home on a sacrifice fly to center field by Ramirez.
Pitchers Logan Burbach and Gage Stine combined for 13 strikeouts, with Burbach getting the win.
In girls soccer the Lady Huskies edged United Township, 3-2, behind a two-goal performance by BaileeBlecker. Sydnie Gribble added a single score.
Later, they traveled to Belvidere for a NIC-10 match and won, 2-0, while the junior varsity battled to a 2-2 tie.
A four-year starter for Harlem’s varsity softball team, 2015 graduate Olivia Fluehr is continuing her standout pitching at Rock Valley College in Rockford.
She was named the NJCAA Division III Pitcher of the Week when she went 3-0 over 16 shutout innings, while allowing 10 hits. She walked just one and struck out 16 during that time.