Fremd 8, Hoffman Estates 6

Forgettable beginnings were erased by unforgettable endings from Fremd seniors Nick Addison and Ryan Shober on Tuesday.

Addison struck out his first 3 at-bats and Shober committed 3 errors at shortstop in the first 3 innings as Fremd fell into a 5-run hole in its Mid-Suburban West baseball makeup with visiting Hoffman Estates.

But Addison tied it with a 2-run double in the seventh. Then Shober ended an 8-6 victory with a 2-run homer with two outs in the eighth.

"Oh-two (count), I was yelling, 'Come on, Shobes,'" said Addison, who was on deck. "I knew he was going to hit a gap and as soon as he hit it, 'See ya.'"

Fortunately for Fremd (7-4, 3-3), Shober fouled off a bunt attempt on an 0-1 pitch after Mike Tauchman walked.

But the next pitch from Hoffman (6-6, 3-3) reliever Mike Kiviranta was sent into the gap well beyond the 350-foot marker in left-center for Shober's fourth homer of the season and first game-winner in high school.

"It was a changeup he kind of left up over the plate and luckily I got some good bat on it," Shober said. "I've been feeling good at the plate lately and even my outs have been pretty hard.

"I was glad I got an opportunity to get another look at this kid."

For 4½ innings, Fremd looked as if it was still in a funk that led to consecutive MSL losses after a 6-3 win at Schaumburg last Thursday.

Five errors in the first 3 innings set up Hoffman's first 2 runs. Matt St. John led off the fourth with a homer and after a walk, designated hitter Mike Eisele hit the first of his 2 homers for a 5-0 lead.

"It gets contagious, that kind of stuff," Shober said. "But we contained it and some guys had big at-bats."

Singles by Shober in the first and Sean Freed in the fifth were the only hits off Hoffman righty Eric McGinnis the first 4¿ innings.

But consecutive RBI doubles by Joey DePaolis and Todd Dunham and an error got Fremd within 5-3.

"We started to pick it up and everyone got a little excited," Addison said.

"We have a very good offensive club and we ran into a tough pitcher (Elk Grove's Matt Martinski on Monday) and another tough pitcher today," said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. "We were patient and didn't get down on ourselves."

Kiviranta came in after McGinnis had 7 strikeouts in 5 innings. Eisele homered in the sixth but Fremd got the run back on Anthony Concialdi's sacrifice fly.

Fremd reliever and winner Matt Johnsen left a runner at third with a strikeout in the seventh. Tauchman singled to center with one out and Shober reached on a fielder's choice.

After a quick chat with Piggott, Addison lined a tying double to deep right-center.

"I just said, 'Go up and relax, see the ball, hit the ball and pick yourself up,'" Piggott said.

"My swing was long and it's been long for a few days," Addison said. "I concentrated on keeping it short and going to right field. I got an outside pitch and took it there."

Kiviranta left the bases loaded with a strikeout but Shober provided the biggest strike an inning later.

"That's a tough one," said Hoffman coach Todd Meador. "I thought we had them.

"We were doing just about everything right those first 4 innings and their big guys came through when they needed them."

Maine W. 7, Maine E. 5: Paul Solka doubled and had 2 RBI, Alex Kopf had 2 hits and 2 RBI and Mike Santa Maria was 2-for-3 for Maine West (7-3, 4-2) in the Central Suburban North victory in Des Plaines.

T.J. Van Derpluym got the victory as the Warriors took a 6-5 lead with 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Leyden 11, Morton 8: Tim Mackey went 3-for-4 with a homer and triple to lead a 13-hit attack as Leyden (12-2, 8-1) completed the 3-game West Suburban Gold series sweep at Morton.

Jack Townley and Joe Natale went 2-for-4 with a double as the Eagles broke open a 7-5 game with a 4-run sixth. Sam Cochiaro went 4 innings for the win and Raul Hernandez went 3 innings for the save.