Hunter Kriese came within an inning of his first no-hitter on Thursday in DeKalb’s 7-0 win over No. 4 Harlem in a Class 4A DeKalb Regional semifinal.

The No. 5 Barbs (18-10-1) still got the win and advance to the championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday. And they still get a rematch with Huntley, the team that has eliminated them from the last two postseasons.

“I’ve been close, but I haven’t been this close before,” the senior righty said. “I’ll be honest, it kind of hurts. But at the end of the day I wanted to win, and the main goal was to win, not throw a no-hitter.”

Kriese struck out seven in the complete game. Before the seventh, he only allowed runners to reach in the second – one on a walk and one on an error. After Brandon Fausett started the seventh with a hard single to left-center. Finn Stovall reached on an error.

Kriese retired 13 in a row before the Fausett single, and he retired the next three after the error to preserve the shutout.

“He threw and beat them earlier in the year,” DeKalb coach Josh Latimer said. “For him to come out and be one hit away from a no-hitter, I just can’t believe it. I can’t believe what he did out there.”

Graham Olson put the Barbs on the board in the top of the second. After Gavin Cheney walked and Luke Duffy singled, Olson scorched a double over the left fielder’s head.

“I was really trying to move the runners over and get something in play,” Olson said. “I just barrelled the ball. I hit that one pretty good.”

The Barbs added a run in the third when Latimer doubled and scored on an error. They added three more in the fourth without a hit. They drew five walks, and Latimer was hit by a pitch and scored. Kriese and Cheney were walked with the bases loaded to drive in runs.

Latimer scored his third and final run of the game in the sixth when he singled, then scored on a Cheney double.

Latimer had two of the Barbs’ six hits. Cheney and Olson each had two RBIs.

“A couple who we weren’t expecting to come up [with big hits] came up,” Kriese said. “The Duffys [Luke and Ryan] came up, Graham. We just got the job done where we needed to.”

The Barbs have entered the season each of the last two years with high hopes, only to have Huntley put an end to things in a regional final. Last year, the Red Raiders won 8-4 at Guilford. In 2024, Huntley won 8-0.

Olson, in his first year on the varsity squad, said the team really wants to beat Huntley.

Kriese said since the Barbs are a somewhat young team this year, he feels it may work in their favor Saturday.

“I think in a way it’s good, because some of these guys haven’t been up here. It’s like a rookie not really knowing what’s going on,” Kriese said. ”We know they’re good. Guys like me, Cole, Evan [Johnson] and Gavin, we know what to expect. We’re just ready to give them another shot. I don’t want to lose three years in a row."

Josh Latimer said Saturday is about more than just winning a regional championship. Given how much talent last year’s team graduated, the coach said, nobody would have ever thought they would be back in this situation.

“It hurts how bad we want this,” he said. “The regional championship against the team that’s knocked us out the last couple years, I can only imagine what’s boiling inside these kids.