2004 American Legion Crown Point Regional Preview
	A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith 7-26-2004

CROWN POINT (7-26-2004) - Here is the jewel of American Legion baseball, four of the north's six best teams (Lafayette and Walton are the others) going head-to-head in tradition-rich Teagle Field. Certainly Plymouth's Bill Nixon Field is more modern but Teagle Field, the home of Post 20 is more of a pure baseball experience with the soaring light towers, blazing sunsets behind first base, the 400-foot distance to center field and 14-foot high fences all around.

Nobody gets a bye here and nobody gets a break. Plymouth has defeated Crown Point twice, 18-11 and 11-3 but Post 20 will probably line up tall right-hander Mike Schultz to cool down Plymouth high school stars like Matt Haug, who batted .470 during the 26-game regular season with nine home runs and 38 RBIs. Post 27 has two big hitters who are home from college in Chris Hostetler (.441, 13 RBIs) and Josh Dietz (8-for-14) who was 12 of 38 (.316) in limited play for Bowling Green University this season.

Dietz, a 6-4, 215-pound first baseman, is the player who set a state record in his final year at Plymouth, hitting home runs in seven consecutive games.  John Glenn's Korey Pulliam (.392, 4 HRs, 8 steals) adds speed to the top of the order and Brandon LaFollete (.348, 23 RBIs) was one of six players who return from last year's regional championship team. Plymouth was 3-1 at the Plymouth sectional surviving an early 5-2 loss to South Bend Post 50 and winning the last three contests.

In Friday's other regional semifinal, Bristol will have to get their act together fast. Post 143 was 14-3 before a six game losing streak sent the Elkhart-based team towards a 22-11 regular season finish.  Bristol's Brian Shelton (2-2, 2.53), who graduated Elkhart Central in 2003 and played for Olney Community College this spring, retired all 15 batters in a 10-0 win over Lowell on July 17 in Bristol's Wooden Bat Tournament. But it's hard to tell who Bristol manager Jim Treadway will start. Bristol's pitching seems to be a little jumbled. Right-hander Brian Phillips (5-1, 2.25 ERA) stopped Valparaiso 6-2 on the final day of the regular season.

Lefty Mike McGregor (Elkhart Memorial-Bethel College) has struggled in recent games , McGregor (2-1, 2.34) is a highly-regarded left-hander and had a strikeout an inning (34 s in 34 innings) during the regular season. Concord grad Joey Rickard (4-1, 2.79 ERA) pitched three shutout innings in a come-from-behind win over Valparaiso on July 12. Concord catcher Mike Pratt (.324) is a key. he hit a key home run Sunday in the final sectional victory. Eric Nielsen (.352, 4 HRs, 12 RBIs) and Elkhart Central's Josh Stewart (.398, 5 HRs, 19 RBIs, 16 steals) also have home run power. Elkhart Memorial outfielder Nick Corpe (.465, 23 runs scored, 17 stolen bases) leads an attack that batted .358 during the regular season. Memorial was the state's top-ranked high school team at the end of the recent prep regular season. 

Billy Horvath (.361, 24 stolen bases) is another trouble-maker on the base paths. But Bristol will have to deal with Munster left-hander Brian Bokowy or Lake Central righty John Babinski. With CP's four left-handed hitting starting position players, Hammond may save Bokowy for a possible second round meeting with the host post. Hammond could start Steve Polak (12-1 at Clark this spring), who is overpowering but did not face top competition in high school, and then come back with Babinski, a right-handed curveballer who was 11-1 with just 15 walks in 68 innings against elite foes for Lake Central. Hammond wasn't tested at the sectional level and they may have too many bats for Bristol's shaky pitching with Munster grads Ross Peterson and Scott Starewicz (.478 at Munster this spring) batting in front of LC star Mike Couwenhoven (.428, 8 HRs this spring) and Munster's Pat Winterhaler (.375, 7 HRs, 34 RBIs this spring).

Polak, Bokowy and Babinski are a formidable Big-3 but if Hammond has to go to a fourth and fifth starter, they will probably have to win slugfests at this level. Crown Point does not appear to have the offense of either Plymouth or Hammond. But they appear to have a solid starting five of Schultz (4-2), CP's Jimmy Wilson (4-1), Kouts grad Joel Oezer (6-4), Andrean's Steve Walsh (3-1), Highland's Sean Adam (3-2). Adam, Walsh and Wilson all pitched complete-game victories on the road on the final weekend of the season and Walsh dominated a tired Lowell squad late Sunday, striking out 14 in a nine-inning complete game. Schultz and Oezer (6-4) were the No. 1 pitchers on their high school teams this spring and are team workhorses. 

Oezer, a breaking ball pitcher, threw 131 pitches in the loss to Lowell on Saturday and Schultz has three nine-inning complete games this summer. Oezer might be asked to start the tournament Friday with the logic that the right-hander would be best suited to come back in relief or for a final game start late Sunday.

CPHS outfielder Dave Dickerson, who was 4-for-4 in an 8-3 win over Bristol in the championship game of the CP Invitational, is a key player here, batting in front of left-handed power hitter Steve Georgian, who most teams try to pitch around. How the switch of third baseman Georgian to short and shortstop Sean Brummet to third holds up against top teams is CP's key defensive focus this weekend. Leadoff man Jake Pierce (.331) might be the key player in the entire tournament, reaching base and patrolling the big center field at Teagle Field.

The best thing going into this tournament is that, if Bristol is the fourth entry, nobody's going to get lucky and win it all. The four strongest teams in the to half of the state all made it to the regional. That doesn't happen very often. If one team is going to sweep the tournament, it will be Plymouth, which has a dominating, power-hitting offense that got Post 27 to the state finals' final round in 2003. Plymouth's early loss at their sectional was without Dietz, an anchor to their lineup. The Plymouth grad was back for Plymouth Sunday and they won twice. 

But Plymouth, as the state finals host, is guaranteed a berth in the finals which begin on Aug. 5 at Bill Nixon Field. That 'guarantee' may affect their play. How badly do they want a regional title? Hammond is the favorite if they don't have to go any deeper than Bokowy, Babinski and Polak but they don't want to have to play five times. The sub-text here is the double rivalry involving posts 20 and 168. 

Hammond versus Crown Point is an 'old school' Lake County American Legion rivalry going back a couple of decades. Inside that is the matchup of prep baseball Andrean and CP (Post 20) against rivals Munster and LC (Post 168). Those posts could meet three times or they might not meet at all. Crown Point, on their own field, is not the favorite. Post 20 drew a team that has already defeated them twice. But CP has been on the rise in July and probably is the only team here that could lose the opener and win four in a row to steal the big ticket to the state championships.

The 2004 CROWN POINT Regional

includes Bristol (25-11), Hammond (23-6), Plymouth (20-14)

2003 Plymouth Sectional.  Hammond was upset by Highland at the sectional level.

Schedule

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Revised: July 29, 2004.