Bishop Guertin players mob sophomore Jake Daley, center, after he scored the winning run from third to bean rival Nashua North 3-2 in 10 innings on Tuesday night at Holman Stadium. (AP photo)

NASHUA – It was Senior Night for the Bishop Guertin High School baseball team Tuesday at Holman Stadium, but after nearly three hours of baseball, the Cardinals ended up celebrating a sophomore.

That would be pinch-runner Jake Daley, who in the bottom of the 10th scored from third on a wild pitch to give the Cards a tourney-like 3-2 win over city rival Nashua North.

Daley scored on a pitch from North’s solid freshman reliever Nolan Sullivan that bounced off Nashua North catcher Mario Ramirez just 10 feet or so away from home plate.But Daley’s speed was the difference, as the Titans had no time to make a play at the plate.The sophomore slid head first to end it.

“Game of inches, right?” Guertin coach Scott Painter said. “First appearance in a varsity game (for Daley). Fast, he’s really fast. (The ball) wasn’t far, and the play wasn’t close. He took an opportunty. We’ve been preaching it all year, and some of our older guys are a little hesitant. Good for him. Good moment for him, good moment for us.”

It was a fantastic game. The Titans had a 2-0 lead vs. BG ace Sam Franco going into the bottom of the sixth thanks to a double steal in the fourth for one run by Jayce Martinez and a wild pitch by reliever Jake Boudreau to score Austin Suchecki in the sixth.

But Guertin got them back on an RBI single by Issac Crivac and an infield hit up the middle by Ryan Haskell off Titan ace Jonathan Medrano.

And the marathon began. Boudreau kept North off the board in his 4.2 innings of relief, striking out nine. North got a runner to second just once, in the top of the 10th.

“I honestly didn’t know I was going to pitch, I was playing first base,” Boudreau, bound for the University of Maine, said. “Coach Painter said ‘Jake, go on out, we need to win the game. You’re going to be a horse, the guy tonight. Every inning, it was the minor tweaks I did, every pitch got me to the next one, and to the next batter and to the out, and get us back in for the opportunity to win…We’ve got a lot of grit.”

So do the Titans, now 8-8 with a game today at Exeter and then the regular season finale Thursday here vs. Bedford, would like to get at least one more win to feel secure in its tourney spot.

“We just faced two big-time (Division) I arms, and two kids that are two of the top pitchers in the state, and we battled,” North coach Zach Harris said. “We did what we had to do. … It was a great defensive game both sides, well-pitched both sides, and their horses beat ours.”

The Cards had to keep relying on Boudreau because North reliever Sullivan was Houdini, escaping from a couple of tight jams. He came in with runners on first and third in the sixth and got three outs to keep things tied. He struck out Haskell with the bases loaded in the seventh, and got a fly out with two on and two out in the ninth.

Nashua North’s Nolan Sullivan steals second as Bishop Guertin’s Kyle Young fields the throw during Tuesday night’s game at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

But in the bottom of the 10th, Sullivan plunked Jackson Goldstein, and in came Daley, advancing to second on Boudreau’s well-placed ground out to the right side, and moved to third on a wild pitch. “Tip a cap to their kid, he made a couple of pitches,” Painter said. “And Jake, that was probably the best he’s pitched all year.” There were 30 strikeouts combined between the two teams, the two top BG pitchers recorded 19.

The Cards, who are at Manchester Memorial today and then host Portsmouth at BG’s Elliott Field to end a 20-game regular season on Friday, would like to get three wins to possibly grab a home game in the Division I first round next Thursday, and avoid an 8-9 spot where they would see the top team that gets a first round bye in the second round.

But this is one that felt like the tourney had already started.

“We held North to four hits, but they competed,” Painter said. “I can’t think of a better high school game.”

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