By Sean Duncan

ROCKFORD ? The way both teams were chirping and cheering, the nonconference game between No. 3 Mount Carmel and Rockford Boylan had the feel of a good old-fashioned Chicago Catholic League game.

Both teams? pitching and defense matched their energy, too, which resulted in an exciting 5-2 Mount Carmel victory in eight innings over the host Titans. The Caravan improved to 9-1.

Mount Carmel?s two pitchers ? junior left-hander Frank Kelly and Illinois-bound right-hander John Kravetz ? limited a solid Boylan (8-3) offense to only two hits, one of which was a blown call on an infield hit in the eighth. Kelly allowed one hit, one earned run, struck out five, and walked four in five solid innings. Kravetz entered the game in the sixth, with the game knotted 2-2, and mowed down the Titans. Using an 85-88 mph fastball and a hard-biting slider, Kravetz (3-0) struck out three, walked none and yielded a questionable infield single in the eighth.

?It was an exciting game,? said Mount Carmel second baseman Chris Sujka, who went 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and a walk. ?The two starting pitchers were throwing gems. Offense was hard to come by.?

Boylan starter, junior right-hander Joe Kubera (2-1), was equally impressive. Kubera had the Caravan off-balance all game with a good mix of his lively 82-85 mph fastball and a sharp, late-biting curveball. Kubera struck out seven, yielded six hits and walked two in seven innings. The 5-foot-10, 155-pounder departed with no outs in the eighth inning, game tied 2-2, with runners on first and second.

?I felt I did pretty well, but a loss is a loss,? said Kubera. ?I just have to learn from it and take it to the next game.?

The pitching was far from the only storyline. Mount Carmel junior first baseman Sam Kint was unknown heading into the season, chiefly because he was recuperating from labrum surgery he underwent in September, but the big 6-foot-5, 235-pounder is certainly making a name for himself this spring. Kint, who already has five home runs, broke open a 2-2 tie in the top of the eighth with a two-run single through the right side of the infield.

?Jeff Boehm is a top recruit and he?s playing the outfield now, so I?m just trying to shine at first base,? said Kint. ?I was just trying to drive in a run, go with it the other way with it.?

Said Caravan coach Brian Hurry, who was without the services of his star hitter, the Kentucky-bound Boehm: ?Sam did a great job with two strikes. People may not have known about him, but internally within the program, we had high expectations for him. It was just a matter of when he was going to be healthy.?

Then there was senior left-fielder Pat Fahey?s web gem that stole Boylan?s momentum. With the game tied at 1-1 with two outs in the fourth inning, Kubera launched what appeared to be a home run. But Fahey raced back, smashed into the fence and snatched it before it exited the field to end the inning.

?In all my years of playing baseball, that was the best catch I?ve ever seen in a game that I was playing in,? said senior right-hander John Kravetz, who pitched three scoreless innings of relief to earn the win. ?It couldn?t have happened to a nicer kid, too.?

Said Kubera of getting his home run taken away: ?I?ve never been so up and then so down so quickly like that before. But I guess that?s baseball.?

After Fahey robbed the home run, Indiana-bound Sujka hit a two-out, opposite-field homer to give the Caravan a 2-1 advantage. But Boylan responded with an unearned run in the bottom half of the fifth after Kelly yielded his only hit in five innings ? a one-out double to Brandon Larson.

Sujka ignited the eighth-inning rally with a leadoff single. After Mount Carmel loaded the bases with no outs, Kint lined two runs in, and later scored on a wild pitch. Sophomore shortstop Jerry Houston went 2-for-4, including a perfect sacrifice bunt in the eighth that went for a hit.