Harlem falls shy of upset

For 6 1/3 innings, Jimmie Lewis looked like he'd done it again.

The longtime Harlem baseball coach had pulled off countless upsets through the years. The most famous was when his team ended Evans' 62-game winning streak in 1990. In that game, Evans coach Ricky Beale was on third base as the Terry Holder-led Knights lost.

On Friday night, the Bulldogs again had the No. 1 Knights beaten and all but clinched Harlem's second win over a top 10 team last week - the Bulldogs had beaten No. 7 Lakeside on Wednesday.

But with one out in the top of the seventh and trailing 3-2, Beale got a measure of revenge for that loss 15 years ago.

The Knights' offense, considered one of the best in the state, scored 13 runs in the seventh to beat Harlem 15-4.

"We knew we could beat them," said Ryan Pressley, who went 2-4 with a double, triple and three runs scored. "We just didn't play like it for the first six innings. But we also realized as the game went on that they could beat us."

Harlem pitcher Felix Chinea had the Knights' lineup silenced for most of the game. Chinea struck out five and had a no-hitter going through five innings.

"Felix was outstanding," said Beale. "He kept our hitters guessing. We just couldn't figure him out."

Lewis pulled Chinea in the sixth with runners on first and second. Zack Baker and Brad Freeman knocked in runs on fielder's choices to close the Bulldog lead to 3-2. Harlem catcher Barrett Davis gave Harlem the lead with a first-inning RBI single and a two-run single in the fifth.

"We felt like we were in control," Lewis said. "Barrett hit the ball well and we played right there with the top-ranked team in the state. The score was not indicative of how close the game was."

Evans junior Shawn Ward tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh with an RBI double off the left-center fence. Pressley gave Evans the lead with a two-run triple. Ward opened the game up later in the seventh with a grand slam.

Evans recorded nine hits and sent 17 players to the plate in the seventh.

"If our offense can click like it did in the seventh, we can win a bunch of ball games this year," Ward said.