American Legion - Friday, 7-1-2005 - 71 degrees at Teagle Field, Crown Point

WP   -  Jimmy Wilson (3-2), 0 K, 3 walks

CROWN POINT, IN (7-1-2005) - It was a promising night for one side and a struggle for the other Friday night in American legion baseball at Crown Point's Teagle Field.

 But it was Crown Point Post 20, an 8-6 winner, who struggled and first year Cedar Lake Post 261, which showed some hope for the rest of the season. 

“Your guys came to play,” Crown Point manager Tony Samano told CL's field leader Al Myszkowski. 

“We're 1-7-1,” said Myszkowski, “and we should be 6-2-1. There' only a couple of games where we've really been beaten.”

This was a game where CP (6-5), which is undefeated in District I play and unbeaten at home, just could not play well consistently for any period of time. The top three batters in the CP order, left-handed hitters Jake Pierce, Rob Barbauld and Nick Ullman, reached base 10 times and scored five runs.  But four errors and an off night of pitching by CPHS grad Jimmy Wilson kept the game close right down to the last swing.

“We don't have all the players I want,” Myszkowski freely admits. “I told the guys, 'This is one of the two best games you've played. But we're short on pitchers. Our team has improved dramatically with (Brent) Winterhaler at shortstop. Before that, seriously, we were making three or four errors a game at short.”

Crown Point won this game when they replaced Wilson, the 6-foot-3 CHS right-hander, who had been the team's No. 1 starter, with Kouts graduate Joel Oezer, who allowed just one hit over the final three innings.

“He's going to get better the more I pitch him,” said Samano. “He didn't pitch all spring. He was in the military and he got released because he had a hearing problem. He's going to be good the rest of the way.”

Oezer entered the game after Crown Point had scored four fourth inning runs to take a 7-5 edge on a cool July night. Oezer gave up a triple to Cedar Lake's Larry Pempek, but he then pitched a hitless final two innings.

“We faced him when we were at Kouts,” said Al Myszkowski. “And his fast ball was hardly breaking 75 miles and hour.  But he was throwing hard tonight. He wasn't the same pitcher.”

Cedar Lake, which has only a victory over Lowell (2-9), has lost to Crown Point 9-6 and 8-6, led 5-3 after a three-run fourth inning, sparked by a double by Brent DeMateo. Five of the six runs CL scored were unearned, but Crown Point lost three runners on the bases, one when catcher Pempek threw out speedy leadoff man Jake Pierce on an attempted steal. The second came after an RBI double by Andrean and Post 20 outfielder Rob Barbauld in the fifth when second baseman Mark Myszkowski threw out Pierce at the plate.

“We're getting better,” said Al Myszkowski. “Winterhaler at short improves us. We just couldn't get the top of their order out. And Oezer's gotten better.”

Myszkowski has decided that Pempek (4-2, 3.86 ERA, 57 strikeouts in 42 innings in 2005 at Hanover) is a full-time catcher and only rarely a pitcher. 

“He got burned up before using him both ways. Now if we'd have had the lead tonight in the seventh inning, he was coming in for three outs.  But I'm not going to start him (as a pitcher) until the end of the season.  It's going to be tough because we don't have a lot of pitching.“

“I'm still waiting to see him, “Samano told Myszkowski after the game. “We know what you're going to do.”

Crown Point and Cedar Lake are sectional rivals along with Lowell Post 101 and Valparaiso Post 91 and CL and CP are first round foes in the double-elimination playoff.

“That's okay,” joked Myszkowski, who faced Samano and Post 20 many times as a member of Lowell's teams in the late 90s. “You can win all these regular season games and we'll see you in the state tournament.”

LEGION NOTES: Crown Point has lost both games against Hammond Post 168 910-4, 7-0) to the weather. Last Wednesday's matchup was rained out. Both teams are undefeated in District I play and the games will be rescheduled.

2004 CPHS grad Jake Pierce had a strong first season at Vincennes Junior College in southern Indiana.

“We played 38 games,” said Pierce of his first year at the Division school.  “I started in 30 of them.  We were 28-17 this year. We lose our shortstop and a couple of others but we have everybody (else) back.”

Pierce  batted .275 (25-pf-91) with two home runs (one grand slam) and 20 RBIs for Vincennes (28-17). 

“College is very much like high school. It's intense. Out here (American Legion) is more relaxed. I was pretty nervous when I first got there, but it was a lot like high school.”

Al Myszkowski says that catcher Larry Pempek (.511, 12 doubles, 5 Hrs, 10 stolen bases) is projected as a catcher in college.

“Ball State wants him to add 20-25 pounds. I don't know if they are going to redshirt him or not. But they do want him to catch.”

Myszkowski says he's not going to be the one to replace Ron Szayni as head coach of Hanover Central, if Szayni does not stay on in that role. But he does have high hopes for the legion team.

“We need some players from Lake Central,” he says of the reality of beating powerful posts from Crown Point and Hammond with just Hanover Central players.

“But we've got to build the program from 15 year olds on up. I need to get guys who are my players. Guys I can work with from the time they're 15.  We have some guys on this team now to whom baseball is their second priority. We had to cancel against Valparaiso because we didn't have enough players.”

“If this was 'my' team. I'd like this situation a lot more.”

Myszkowski is very high on Hanover's 15-year-old freshmen Zach Burns and Dale Sjoerdsma.

“By the time Burns is 17, he's going to be a force,” said Myszkowski. “He's going to be one of the corner stones of this team.  I've got three really good 15 year olds and they're the ones I'm going to build the future of this team around.”

Post 20 moved second baseman Nick Ullman to shortstop to shore up the defense, moving in CPHS senior Matthew Schweitzer at second base.  Crown Point was playing without regular catcher Greg Eberhart. Hebron grad Sean Brummet, who usually is a shortstop or third baseman, filled in as the backup catcher.

The playoff roster includes Crown Point native Steve Augsburger who was 8-1 with a 2.33 ERA for 3A state champion Andrean (33-2) this season.  Augsburger, a high school teammate of Post 20 left fielder Robb Barbauld, also batted .412 with 23 RBIs for the 59ers but there is some skepticism about whether he'll actually play for Post 20 this summer.

CPHS left-hander Matt Jansen (9-2, 1.57ERA) will not play for Post 20 this summer, but that is not a surprise due to his responsibilities as CP's football quarterback. Crown Point's fall football season begins in seven weeks.

It was hoped that third baseman/pitcher Johnny Selman, an all-Porter County Conference (PCC) player from Kouts, and a former teammate of Joel Oezer will join the team in the final few weeks. That would add to Post 20's already speedy attack. Selman was an all-PCC point guard in basketball.

Crown Point's Sunday double-header with the Crown Point 'B' (age 17-and-under) team will begin at 4 p.n. due to a Sunday 2 p.m. memorial service for Crown Point native Nick Idalski, who was killed in war action in Iraq on July 21.

CROWN POINT Post 20  (6-5, 6-0)

Manager: Tony Samano

JUNE 14 (W) 9-6 Cedar Lake (261)

JUNE 15 (W) 15-1 at Lowell (101) 

JUNE 16 (W) 8-3 Highland (168)

JUNE 20 (W) 8-4 at Hammond (168) 'B"

JUNE 21 (L) 1-2 at Plymouth (27)

Terre Haute Invitational

June 23 (L) 4-14 (6) at Terre Haute (346)

June 24 (L) 0-11 (5) Evansville (265)

June 25 (L) 5-7 Madison (9)

June 26 (L) 1-9 Lafayette (11)

JUNE 28 (W) 11-1 at Calumet City (330)

JUNE 29 - Hammond (168) - Rain

 JULY 1 (W) 8-6 Cedar Lake (261)

JULY 2 (Sat) Kokomo (6) 2 games - 1 p.m.

JULY 3 (Sun) Post 20 A vs. B - double-header  - 2 p.m.

JULY 5 (TU) Lowell (101) 7:30 p.m.

JULY 7 (TH) at Highland (180) 6 p.m.

Post 20 INVITATIONAL at Teagle Field (CP)

JULY 8 (F) vs. Bristol (143) 6 p.m.

JULY 8 (F) vs. Valparaiso (94)

JULY 10 (Sun) vs. Plymouth (27) 12 noon

JULY 10 (Sun) vs. Cedar Lake (261) 7:30 p.m.

JULY 11 (M) Hammond (168) 'B" 6:30 p.m.

JULY 12 (TU) at Valparaiso (94) 6 p.m.

JULY 13 (W) at South Bend (50) 7 p.m.

JULY 14 (TH) Valparaiso (94) 6 p.m.

JULY 15 (F) 1st District all-star game (at Teagle Field – CP) 7 p.m.

JULY 16 (Sat) Anderson (127) -  Double-header  - 1 p.m.

JULY 17 (Sun) Muncie (19) 2 games - 12 noon

CROWN POINT Sectional- Double-elimination -at Teagle Field- CP

JULY 21 (TH) CP (20)  vs. Cedar Lake (261)

JULY 22 (F) Lowell (101) vs. Valparaiso (94)

JULY 23 (Sat) 2nd round - TBA

JULY 24 (Sun) Championship - TBA

PLYMOUTH Regional - Double elimination -  at Bill Nixon Field  in Plymouth

JULY 28 (TH) 1st round

JULY 29 (TH) 1st round

JULY 30 (Sat) 2nd round

JULY 31 (Sun) Championship round   

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Revised: July 07, 2005.