Baseball: Belvidere North rallies to beat Larkin

BELVIDERE - Larkin baseball coach Matt Esterino likes the resiliency his team has shown in the opening week of the season.

The Royals rallied from a 5-run deficit to take a 9-7 lead Friday against Belvidere North, but the Blue Thunder responded with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to steal a 10-9 nonconference victory.

"You never like to lose as a competitor, but it was a good step," Esterino said, as his team dropped to 2-2 playing its fourth game in five days. "We showed fight and our offensive approach was good for most of the game."

The situation appeared bleak for the Royals as they trailed 7-2 with two outs and no one on in the top of the sixth.

Cy Kerber and Max Anderson coaxed walks from reliever Connor Walsh and pinch hitter Luis Bello singled up the middle to load the bases.

Mike Rodriguez dropped down a perfect RBI bunt single down the third base line and a walk to Jeff Althamar brought Larkin within 7-4.

Number nine hitter Gunnar Boley greeted reliever Kyle Perkins by rocketing a 3-run double into the left field corner, then came all the way around to score the lead run after a wild relay throw home.

"I knew I had to do something big to get my team back in the game," Boley said. "I'm not known for hitting, and last year I was DH'd out, but getting a big hit like that and giving the team the lead was a great feeling."

Larkin manufactured another run when Jackson Reuter walked, took second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a throwing error.

"We kept scrapping there. We got a clutch hit off the bench, Mike put down a great bunt and Gunnar got a good swing," Esterino said. "Everybody's buying in and we'll keep getting better."

Larkin could only get one out in the seventh as Blue Thunder leadoff man Marco Yates lined a game-winning 2-run single into left after they narrowed the gap to 9-8 on a wild pitch.

"I thought for sure we were going to pull it out," Boley said. "It was a tough loss, but we'll bounce back. We're a young, motivated team."

Reuter and Andy Bonnot led off the game with singles and came around to score for a quick 2-0 Larkin lead.

Belvidere North (3-1) answered with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings off starter Max Wiskirchen and tacked on 3 more in the fourth off reliever Jonathan Unger.