Palatine averts disaster, beats Fremd

Palatine was flirting with disaster in the first three innings against Mid-Suburban West leading Fremd.

The Pirates were able to weather the storm and junior starting pitcher Eric Scheuermann shut down the Vikings in the final four innings of an 8-4 victory at Palatine.

Palatine (15-11, 6-3) fell behind twice in the first three innings, but never looked back after scoring 3 runs in the pivotal fourth inning.

Palatine won its fourth straight game and closed to within a half-game of West leading Fremd (12-10, 7-3).

“The kids responded and I’m really proud of them,” said Palatine coach Paul Belo, whose team came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first and a 4-3 deficit in the third. “We settled down and did what we were supposed to do to be successful.”

Scheuermann found himself in early trouble, allowing the first three Vikings to reach base with Zach Kolakowski and Josh Jyawook both scoring to give Fremd a 2-0 advantage.

But the Pirates responded in the bottom of the first with a Scott Schneberger (2-for-3, 3 RBI) 2-run single and Jesse Bobbit’s RBI single leading to a 3-2 advantage.

Fremd had its first four batters reach base in the top of third with Jyawook scoring on a wild pitch. Scheuermann wiggled out of the no-out, bases-loaded jam by allowing only one more run to score on a single by Jimmy Latal.

Scheuermann, who had 9 strikeouts, found his groove in the final four innings, allowing only one Viking to reach base on an error.

“I just tried to slow down the game and take it pitch by pitch,” said Scheuermann.

Palatine tied the game at 4-4 on a triple by Vince Portera in the third and broke it open in the the fourth on a 2-run infield single by Cody Bobbit.

“We let them off the hook in the third,” said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. “They came back with the big hits, we didn’t. That was the difference in the game.”

Fremd starter Sean Stutzman seemed to be in control entering the fourth, but the senior gave up 3 walks in the inning and also had a wild pitch that allowed Palatine senior Dan Haze, who opened the inning with a triple, to score the go-ahead run.

“It would have been a much different inning if I would have gotten ahead of the hitters,” said Stutzman, who gave up 7 runs, but also had 9 strikeouts in 4 innings.

Palatine also was helped by the defense of Joe Walsh; the senior had two force outs at home from first base. Schneberger added an RBI single in the sixth to keep the Pirates rolling.

“We started clicking and we haven’t stopped,” said Walsh of the Pirates’ 4-game winning streak. “We’re just trying to do our best.”